Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Even as the Kosciusko County Council begins its budget process, taxpayers are being reminded it's only estimates at this time.
Sue Ann Mitchell, Kosciusko County auditor, said, "The budgets local taxing entities are required by law to publish in advance of adopting their budgets and the amount of tax dollars they are allowed to collect are not necessarily what they appear." Because of the numerous delays in the reassessment process and because of the recent changes in the laws due to the special session and House Bill 1001, current assessed values cannot be determined at this time, nor can the maximum amounts taxing entities are allowed to charge.
The township assessors within the county are finalizing their reassessment data. The county assessor's office and the elected township assessors are working on data entry. Because of the delays and changes in the assessment methods, the process for all assessors in the state is behind schedule. Kosciusko County has continued to maintain forward progress in data collection while other counties opted to stop and wait until a final determination was reached by the state Legislature, according to Mitchell. This, along with the change in the personal property assessment of inventories after the deadline for filing returns, has caused the assessors a great deal of unexpected work.
Once the assessed values are established by the assessors for all types of property - including real property, personal property and public utilities - the auditor's office must post all exemptions. This process takes about four weeks after the assessors provide the gross assessed values. LOW, the software vendor for the auditor and treasurer tax-billing program, is working on the changes in the tax-billing program because of the changes in the laws that were just enacted with the House bill. The auditor's office is responsible for determining the net assessed value of all property for each taxing entity.
The net assessed values required to establish tax rates should be available now for budget purposes, but because of the delays, these figures are not available. The auditor must provide each taxing entity with their certified assessed values along with other anticipated tax information, including the maximum amount of property tax a unit can collect. These figures have not yet been received from state government because of law changes that affect how the maximum amount a taxing unit can charge is determined. Taxing entities must take care to estimate the assessed values low and the expenditures high so when the final figures for both assessed values and maximum levies are received, they will be able to raise enough tax dollars to fund their budgets.
Certified assessed values must be sent to the Department of Local Government Finance for their final approval and certification. Tax rates are to be certified by Feb. 15 so tax bills can be prepared. Once the rates are certified back to the county, the auditor must prepare an Abstract of Taxes listing the dollars to be distributed to the various taxing entities. Next, the state auditor's office must approve the abstract. Once that approval is received, tax bills can be mailed.
Kosciusko County mails out more than 70,000 tax bills that are printed, folded, stuffed and sealed by the employees in the treasurer's office. Tax bills must be mailed at least 15 days before May 10. This means that by April 25, tax bills must be in the mail to taxpayers for the due date to be May 10. With a collection date of May 10, tax collections are distributed to the various taxing entities before June 30. Budgets have been built with the expectation of receiving the spring and fall distributions in a timely manner.
If assessed values cannot be certified by the auditor for whatever reason, and if the tax rates are not set and approved by the Department of Local Government Finance, and if tax bills cannot be put in the mail by April 25, Mitchell said, the tax due date then must be moved back so taxpayers are given at least 15 days to pay their taxes. This would mean taxing entities would be late in receiving the funds they budgeted. This could mean taxing entities must borrow money and pay interest because of the delay in receiving funds. Mitchell said this would be the worst-case scenario for Kosciusko County.
Because budgets cannot be adopted at a greater rate than what was advertised and because the maximum levy is not yet known, budgets are only estimates at this point, she said. Taxing entities are required to publish budget estimates, maximum funds to be raised, excessive levy appeals and the current tax levy as well as the maximum levy limitation. With the exception of the budget estimate, amounts taxing entities are publishing now are only estimates.
Mitchell said she hopes the assessors can deliver the gross assessed values to her office by the end of the year so her office can apply exemptions and get the tax rates certified by the state in time for bills to be mailed by April 25.
