85% Of Home Reassessments Up In Marion County

The legislature had better not think of finishing its business this year until it gets down to some serious property tax relief or we're going to see a property tax revolt in a couple of months that will make last year's protests look like a walk in the park. Marion Co. Assessor Greg Bowes tells the Star's Tim Evans that at least 85% of the county's homes will see an increase in the assessment they received on their tax bills last year. Although overall homeowners will receive about a 6% reduction in their bill because of higher business assessments, it means the reassessment will produce no relief for the homeowners hit hardest last year and will actually increase others even more. The example of Robert Chandler in Evans story explains what's going to make many homeowners unhappy:

Robert Chandler is among the homeowners who hoped reassessment would provide some relief after his property tax bill doubled last year.

No such luck.

The new value for Chandler's home, 2001 N. Alabama St., is almost double the assessment used to calculate his 2006 bill. That's likely to mean his taxes will be higher, too.

He won't be alone. Nearly 2,000 of his neighbors in Center Township, as well as about 1,000 homeowners in Washington Township, are expected to see assessments that are double or more than the assessments used to figure their 2006 bills.

Chandler said he was surprised by the new value.

"I thought the assessed value on the last bill was about right. My complaint was the amount of taxes I was paying in comparison with what others were paying, including some commercial properties," he said.

"I'll be very interested to see what the new rate is. My question right now is, could I sell my house for that (new assessed value)?"

The reassessment valued his home at $629,900 -- an 18 percent increase over the original 2007 bill and 81 percent higher than the value used to calculate his 2006 bill.

"If that's typical of what they've done, this issue is not dead by a long stretch," he said of the citizen uprising that helped prompt Daniels to order a reassessment. "It looks like the perfect storm is still out there."

Meanwhile, House Speaker Pat Bauer and the House Democrats decided to make a mockery of Gov. Mitch Daniels property tax relief plan by changing the cap from 1% of a home's assessed value to 1% of the homeowner's household income. It's a telemarketers dream because everyone's household income in Indiana will now become public information. Why don't we just put everyone's tax returns online for the world to view? It's also a tax dodgers dream as well. Many wealthy people benefit from huge trust funds which spin off a little income a year, yet they live in a multi-million dollar home paid for with their inherited wealth. Many self-employed people traditionally show little income. There's no end to the list of the ridiculous scenarios one could conjure up under this inane approach. You would have thought Bauer would have learned from his absurd plan from last year to finance a property tax rebate check for all homeowners financed with the sale of slot machine franchises to the state's two horse race tracks.