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With some of the property assessment values being sent out, local appraisals are beginning to see their already-heavy workload pile up more.
Edd Habegger, owner of Independent Appraisal Service, Leesburg, said he's received five requests for appraisals this week specifically because of the assessments. Three were from the Warsaw area, two from the Wawasee area.
But because mortgage interest rates have been so low and property owners want to refinance to take advantage of the rates, Habegger said appraisers like himself already are inundated with work.
He said the turn-around to complete an appraisal is one to two weeks. They're not complaining about the work by any means, he said, but an appraisal may not be finished in the four to six hours it might normally take.
"We try to use our time as wisely as possible," he said.
In most instances, Habegger said, homeowners are telling him they think their assessed values are two to three times what the actual value should be. He has yet to actually appraise the properties he's been contacted about, so he said it would be difficult to know if the homeowners are correct.
At first glance, based on properties he is slightly familiar with, it seems some may be over assessed.
But he stressed that he really needs to look at the properties closer and get the facts before he makes any determination.
In Kosciusko County, there are 20 licensed appraisers, Habegger said, "which is not a great deal when you look at the number of properties in the county."
During the course of the next year, Habegger said he anticipates the appraisers in the county to be "quite busy with the reassessment."
But he thinks it is appropriate that property owners question their property's assessed values.
County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell said Kosciusko County is unique because of the lakes and the large increase in assessed value of those properties around the lakes.
However, she said, "No additional tax dollars can be collected. It's not like the county and other taxing entities are going to get a windfall over this reassessment. There's a cap on the amount of money that can be collected and the cap is set at 4.8 percent. So only 4.8 percent greater than what was collected the prior year can be collected by any taxing entity unless they have a special circumstance that allows them to go outside what's called 'the freeze.'"
Because of the freeze, she said the pocketbook of the taxpayers is not an open checkbook for taxing entities. Constraints set by law limit what kind of funds actually can be raised by the taxing entities.
"So when people say, 'well, everyone's taxes are going up, where is the money going?' Everyone's taxes aren't going up," Mitchell said. "Some people's taxes have to be going down equal to the amount of taxes going up because we can not collect more than 4.8 percent greater than what was collected the prior year."
Increases in property taxes on agricultural land and homeowners are being offset by decreases in taxes on commercial and industrial properties, she said.
