We as township assessors are confused by the ever increasing media blitz about the assessors being at fault for the "broken property tax system". When in fact, the system was created by the legislative body. The duty of the Township Assessor is to implement the statutes as set forth.
Our question is why did the legislature pass legislation to reduce the Property Tax Replacement Credit, to reduce the Homestead Credit, to eliminate the inventory tax and implement real and personal property investment deductions all in the same year? All of this legislation has resulted in loss of revenue in many counties. Hamilton County, for example, lost nearly 1 billion dollars in assessed value which caused our tax rates to increase, therefore, the tax bills increased. You, the legislature, chose to make all these changes to the detriment of the taxpayer the same year the Annual Trending hit the tax rolls.
Annual Trending is the responsibility of the Assessor and Trending did not fail. We are being used as scapegoats for the Perfect Storm. It is not realistic to expect a new assessment system to go smoothly the first year. And, we have had three assessment system changes in 10 years.
The governor is adamant that elected assessors be removed from office and be replaced by one trained assessor. The irony is, the 827 township trustee assessors that he wants to eliminate do not assess real property and have no effect on real estate tax bill s. The other irony is the existing 181 township assessors and 92 county assessors are the professionals with the training and the experience. Assessors are the only elected officials that have mandatory education requirements. There is no extra pool of applicants that have the qualifications. Incidentally, I want to correct the certification status data the DLGF is distributing. Using the accurate number of 181 elected Township Assessors, 77% have the Level II certification.
County and township assessors have different actual and statutory duties with no overlap. Consolidation of all township offices would be a monumental and costly job. While some have labeled all township assessors as inept and unqualified, there are county assessors that can and should be labeled the same. Half of the county assessors in Indiana must have felt they were not qualified to complete the daunting task of Annual Trending and chose to hire a professional or outside vender. Of the counties that used outside venders, only 11 were compliant.
The township assessors that chose to do their own Annual Trending in-house were able to do so in spite of the fact that their work load doubled while not increasing staff and keeping cost down. I do not think you could find an assessor that would disagree with this statement.
To Trend residential and commercial on alternating years would be beneficial to everyone involved in the system. That said, the Annual Trending / Market Value System can and will work with the dedicated public servants already in place.
Third graders are taught about the three branches of government. These checks and balances were put in place by our forefathers for a reason. This system works because it was founded by the people and for the people to make sure that not one person has all the power to make mass decisions. The legislature has changed the system and now they want to change the people. This will change the political process and cost us our democracy.
Our question is why did the legislature pass legislation to reduce the Property Tax Replacement Credit, to reduce the Homestead Credit, to eliminate the inventory tax and implement real and personal property investment deductions all in the same year? All of this legislation has resulted in loss of revenue in many counties. Hamilton County, for example, lost nearly 1 billion dollars in assessed value which caused our tax rates to increase, therefore, the tax bills increased. You, the legislature, chose to make all these changes to the detriment of the taxpayer the same year the Annual Trending hit the tax rolls.
Annual Trending is the responsibility of the Assessor and Trending did not fail. We are being used as scapegoats for the Perfect Storm. It is not realistic to expect a new assessment system to go smoothly the first year. And, we have had three assessment system changes in 10 years.
The governor is adamant that elected assessors be removed from office and be replaced by one trained assessor. The irony is, the 827 township trustee assessors that he wants to eliminate do not assess real property and have no effect on real estate tax bill s. The other irony is the existing 181 township assessors and 92 county assessors are the professionals with the training and the experience. Assessors are the only elected officials that have mandatory education requirements. There is no extra pool of applicants that have the qualifications. Incidentally, I want to correct the certification status data the DLGF is distributing. Using the accurate number of 181 elected Township Assessors, 77% have the Level II certification.
County and township assessors have different actual and statutory duties with no overlap. Consolidation of all township offices would be a monumental and costly job. While some have labeled all township assessors as inept and unqualified, there are county assessors that can and should be labeled the same. Half of the county assessors in Indiana must have felt they were not qualified to complete the daunting task of Annual Trending and chose to hire a professional or outside vender. Of the counties that used outside venders, only 11 were compliant.
The township assessors that chose to do their own Annual Trending in-house were able to do so in spite of the fact that their work load doubled while not increasing staff and keeping cost down. I do not think you could find an assessor that would disagree with this statement.
To Trend residential and commercial on alternating years would be beneficial to everyone involved in the system. That said, the Annual Trending / Market Value System can and will work with the dedicated public servants already in place.
Third graders are taught about the three branches of government. These checks and balances were put in place by our forefathers for a reason. This system works because it was founded by the people and for the people to make sure that not one person has all the power to make mass decisions. The legislature has changed the system and now they want to change the people. This will change the political process and cost us our democracy.
The Hamilton County Township Assessors
Presented by - Robin Ward, Pamela Zagar & Dixie Packard
