Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
What's more difficult than filling out tax forms?
Explaining how the 2001 reassessment will work.
In previous years, the assessment was completed using reproduction costs and a table provided by the state to determine the assessed valuation of all property in Kosciusko County. The assessed valuation then determined tax rates for each of the 34 taxing units in the county.
In December 1998, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled the cost tables used in the 1995 manual for reassessment were unconstitutional because they were not "objectively verifiable." The court's decision requires the assessment to be based on market concepts.
Kosciusko County Assessor Sharon Thompson said the reassessment this time around (a reassessment is required every four years) will be completed using sale disclosures as a base rate.
"It's getting close to market value," she said. "The land will be market value."
She added: "Everything we have right now is proposed. The manual has to be adopted. It'll be before February before our manual is approved."
Wednesday, Thompson and the 17 township trustees voted to do the assessment in-house.
"We want to be involved," Thompson said. She said they will do their own assessment improvements but will work with a professional on land valuations.
Thompson and the trustees will continue to receive more training on the process. Kosciusko County has never relied totally on outside appraisers to do the county's reassessment.
"It's going to be different than we've ever know," Thompson said.
Using the county courthouse as an example, Thompson said that to determine the value of a property, the building is first measured, and a rate is given to the building based on the number of square feet. The assessors then look at the condition of the building compared to its age and apply a grade. Rates for extra building furnishings (extra bathrooms, air conditioning, fireplaces) will be added on.
Thompson said, "Anything extra you have on that lot - a pool, a shed - we measure, and there's a table we use to assess a rate."
A 1,500-square-foot frame dwelling will have an assessed valuation of $41,200. A brick home of the same size will have an assessed valuation of $45,600 because it is more valuable. That's just the starting point.
The valuation will rise if the dwelling has a finished basement. If the property's basement doesn't have heat or electricity, deductions in valuation will be made.
One problem with the process, Thompson said, is that assessors can't go in a house if no one is home, so they must leave a message or try to make contact via telephone. If they can't gather all the needed information, an estimate is made on the property.
"We take photos, which have been very helpful," she said.
All valuations are checked and re-checked for accuracy, but it still is better to be able to check the house inside and out, she said.
The same procedures are used whether the property is residential, commercial, industrial or utility property. The state determines what is a normal structure.
In 1996, before exemptions, the assessed valuation of Kosciusko County was $666,418,500.
"Our lakes are popular, so there'll be a big increase for our lakes area because of the sale price," Thompson said. She said there'll be a shift in the tax burden to residential areas.
According to recent Indiana State Board of Tax Commission figures, tax rate payments for residential property may go up between 5 and 16.2 percent under the new assessment valuation procedures. Utility property tax payments may rise 3 percent, while agricultural property tax payments are expected to drop as much as 8.6 percent and business property taxes may drop as much as 10.9 percent.
"All of this is proposal," Thompson said. "If our assessed valuation goes up, our tax rate could go down." She said the 34 county taxing agents collect only tax dollars needed to operate.
The 2001 reassessment was supposed to have begun July 1, but the state did not notified counties until June 29. The work has begun, and Thompson said assessors are training sessions and having meetings. She said they still have many questions that the state will need to answer, but field work will start before the end of the year.
The assessment date is March 1, 2001. Property owners will begin paying those taxes in 2002.
There are 51,747 parcels in Kosciusko County that will be assessed.
