INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 1, 2007) – The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) issued an official order today to the Marion County Assessor to reassess residential and commercial and industrial properties. The order comes after a required public hearing to outline the need for a countywide reassessment.

Governor Mitch Daniels ordered the DLGF on July 18 to begin the process to implement a reassessment after more than 72 percent of commercial properties in Marion County showed no change in assessed value over a six-year period.

The DLGF’s order requires all residential and commercial and industrial properties in Marion County to be reassessed by Feb. 1, 2008, and voids Marion County’s 2007 certified tax rates that were previously approved. The new tax rates will be based on the results of the reassessment.

“In general, Marion County taxpayers will need to pay the amount of their 2006 bills for their spring and fall 2007 installments, until the reassessment is completed and bills are issued based on the new values,” DLGF Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave said.

The spring 2007 installment, at the 2006 amount, will be due Aug. 10, 2007, and the fall 2007 installment, also at the 2006 amount, will be due Nov. 13, 2007. In addition, county homeowners who were eligible for homestead deductions in the 2007 tax year, but not in 2006, will be allowed to pay the lesser of the two bills.

In following the order, the Marion County Assessor will reassess the residential property, but must hire a professional appraisal firm to conduct the reassessment of commercial and industrial properties. The DLGF will approve and oversee the commercial and industrial contract.

INDIANAPOLIS (July 18, 2007) - Governor Mitch Daniels today ordered a reassessment of all real property in Marion County property based on evidence that business assessments were either left undone or performed inaccurately, contributing to an unfair tax burden on homeowners. The governor also said he will freeze tax bills for Marion County at 2006 amounts and recommended that the county issue provisional bills until the reassessment is completed and new bills are issued. "We're here to solve problems, and we're beginning with the immediate -- at least in Marion County -- today. People need relief now, and we can't have people losing their homes because of unfair taxes," said Daniels.

As he addressed immediate property tax problems in Marion County, Daniels also announced a plan to seek long-term solutions for reform and restructuring of local civil and school government. He named Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard and former Governor Joe Kernan to co-chair a commission that will examine and make recommendations on such topics as what local government offices could be eliminated to achieve efficiencies and cost-savings and how local governments might restructure or consolidate to reduce overhead and other expenses.

Daniels decided to order the Marion County reassessment after receiving a recommendation from Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave. The DLGF and the state's government efficiency group have been poring through parcel data for the county in recent days. Musgrave outlined findings that prompted her recommendation in a memo to the governor. For example, assessed value for nearly three-fourths (16,000 of 22,100) of commercial and industrial parcels in Marion County did not change at all over a six-year period.

The state will take charge of the commercial and industrial reassessment in Marion County using professional assessment assistance and instruct county officials to do the residential work. Marion County property taxpayers will receive bills with a new 2007 amount promptly after the reassessment is completed and tax rates certified, a process that is expected to take six to eight months. To begin the formal process of initiating a Marion County reassessment, the DLGF has issued a resolution that calls for a public hearing in 10 days. Following the public hearing, DLGF will issue an order to reassess.

The governor said it is likely that reassessments will be ordered for other counties, but so far, many have not complied with state law to provide the detailed parcel information they are required to send that will enable analysis of assessments. The DLGF has begun to review information for Gibson County, whose homeowners have received property tax bills with average increases of more than 35 percent. Aggregate tax data for that county indicates a problem similar to that of Marion County. The DLGF will send a demand letter to counties that have not sent their data to the state or have provided noncompliant data.

Counties for priority attention include Elkhart, Delaware and Jefferson, but all will be closely examined. There are only 18 counties in complete compliance.

Daniels again asked legislators to consider his proposals for use of a local circuit breaker to provide direct relief to those who need it most and to convert the rebate to a property tax credit that would be more immediate. On July 14, the governor sent legislative leaders a letter suggesting that counties be given the ability to use their share of $300 million appropriated for property tax relief this fiscal year to target property tax relief to those hardest hit through a locally-designed "circuit breaker". That could come in a number of forms, including capping bills at a certain percentage of a home's gross assessed value, at a certain percentage of the owner's adjusted gross income, at a maximum percentage or dollar amount increase, by setting aside a certain percentage of the county fund for those on fixed incomes, or by any other method fitting the local situation. Counties not choosing a targeted approach would stay with the formula established by the General Assembly, which would provide relief to every homeowner, whether their taxes went up or not. But Daniels has proposed converting the current rebate checks into a credit to deliver the relief sooner and with less administrative expense. Earlier, the governor took these additional actions:

• Extended by two months the deadline for counties to decide to use other available revenue tools to help them reduce local property taxes. Legislation enacted this year gives counties the authority to adopt local option income taxes. The August 1 deadline has been moved to October 1.
• Directed the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) to approve any county's application to permit homeowners to pay their property taxes in installments and to extend bill due dates.
• Directed the Indiana Bond Bank to facilitate short-term financing by local governments that need cash while awaiting installments.