County Officials Working Through Property Tax Issues
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Erin Windle-
Kosciusko County is not one of the 13.
An annual process called "trending" was added and used in 2002 because assessment values were considered extremely low, said Patty Gammiere, Turkey Creek township assessor.
Before trending, property values were determined by a manual. Now, values are based on the true market value of the property. Trending will be done annually until the next general reassessment in 2009.[[In-content Ad]]Trending is based on sales disclosures and the prior year assessment. Every time a property is sold, a sales disclosure has to be filled out and has to include the price that was paid for the property, Gammiere said. Because of trending, values changed a lot.
"The whole township went up," Gammiere said. "The increase is seen more around the lakes because that land has been undervalued for so long."
It is taking longer than expected to get the tax rate and send out the bills because the land had to be reassessed. Houses are still assessed through a manual because "a house is a house." But the land values fluctuate depending on their location, Gammiere said.
On a regular schedule, property tax bills are due in two separate installments. May 10 and Nov. 19 are the due dates.
Right now there is no way to tell when the tax rate will be set or when bills will be sent out, said Kent Adams, Kosciusko County treasurer.
Property tax bills begin with the assessor. The assessor sends the assessed values to the state for approval, and the state sends them back to the assessor. The assessor then interfaces the values to the auditor, who applies exemptions and sends them back to the state for approval.
This is where the county's values are right now, Adams said. The county is awaiting state approval to begin the actual billing process.
Legislators decided during the last General Assembly that, overall, there has been such an increase in tax bills that refunds were needed, Kosciusko County Assessor Laurie Renier said. However, giving refunds is also going to cost the county money, possibly around $15,000.
"It seems it would make more sense to adjust the rate upfront and have us pay an accurate bill, instead of dealing with refunds later," Renier said.
Assessment values have increased due to trending, since it is based on true market value.
"People are so upset about their assessments, but they don't understand that everything was undervalued for the longest time," said Renier. "Just because assessments went up doesn't mean their bill will go up, but there is no way of knowing right now" without knowing the tax rates.
While assessments may increase, tax rates will seem to decrease because no matter the assessed values, taxing units still operate on the same same amount of money.
The county has a good economic base, Adams said.
"We don't jump off the end of a springboard without looking," he said.
As a result of the delay, it's possible that an extension of 45 days will be made for payments, but it's also possible there will be only one collection date instead of two, he said.
Since the bills are late, distributions to schools are late, so many school corporations have had to take out loans.
Fifty-four percent of every property tax dollar goes to schools, 18 percent to the county, 16 percent to the city/town, 5 percent to special unit, 3 percent to the library and township, and only 1 percent goes to the state.
"It's not the way it should be, but hopefully we'll get back on schedule," Gammiere said. "That's what we have to work at."
Kosciusko County is not one of the 13.
An annual process called "trending" was added and used in 2002 because assessment values were considered extremely low, said Patty Gammiere, Turkey Creek township assessor.
Before trending, property values were determined by a manual. Now, values are based on the true market value of the property. Trending will be done annually until the next general reassessment in 2009.[[In-content Ad]]Trending is based on sales disclosures and the prior year assessment. Every time a property is sold, a sales disclosure has to be filled out and has to include the price that was paid for the property, Gammiere said. Because of trending, values changed a lot.
"The whole township went up," Gammiere said. "The increase is seen more around the lakes because that land has been undervalued for so long."
It is taking longer than expected to get the tax rate and send out the bills because the land had to be reassessed. Houses are still assessed through a manual because "a house is a house." But the land values fluctuate depending on their location, Gammiere said.
On a regular schedule, property tax bills are due in two separate installments. May 10 and Nov. 19 are the due dates.
Right now there is no way to tell when the tax rate will be set or when bills will be sent out, said Kent Adams, Kosciusko County treasurer.
Property tax bills begin with the assessor. The assessor sends the assessed values to the state for approval, and the state sends them back to the assessor. The assessor then interfaces the values to the auditor, who applies exemptions and sends them back to the state for approval.
This is where the county's values are right now, Adams said. The county is awaiting state approval to begin the actual billing process.
Legislators decided during the last General Assembly that, overall, there has been such an increase in tax bills that refunds were needed, Kosciusko County Assessor Laurie Renier said. However, giving refunds is also going to cost the county money, possibly around $15,000.
"It seems it would make more sense to adjust the rate upfront and have us pay an accurate bill, instead of dealing with refunds later," Renier said.
Assessment values have increased due to trending, since it is based on true market value.
"People are so upset about their assessments, but they don't understand that everything was undervalued for the longest time," said Renier. "Just because assessments went up doesn't mean their bill will go up, but there is no way of knowing right now" without knowing the tax rates.
While assessments may increase, tax rates will seem to decrease because no matter the assessed values, taxing units still operate on the same same amount of money.
The county has a good economic base, Adams said.
"We don't jump off the end of a springboard without looking," he said.
As a result of the delay, it's possible that an extension of 45 days will be made for payments, but it's also possible there will be only one collection date instead of two, he said.
Since the bills are late, distributions to schools are late, so many school corporations have had to take out loans.
Fifty-four percent of every property tax dollar goes to schools, 18 percent to the county, 16 percent to the city/town, 5 percent to special unit, 3 percent to the library and township, and only 1 percent goes to the state.
"It's not the way it should be, but hopefully we'll get back on schedule," Gammiere said. "That's what we have to work at."
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