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Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: Property sticker shocker Most Allen County homeowners have received their notice of assessment, and some are still experiencing the sticker shock of seeing their home’s value rise 25 percent or even more since the last assessment. Here are answers to basic questions about the new assessments and how they will affect property-tax bills: Q. According to the new assessment notice, my home’s value went up 30 percent. How could my home’s value have gone up so much in a year? A. The increase covers a period of several years. The last assessment was based on home sales in 1999; the most recent assessments are based on sales in 2004-05. Because of the state’s new trending requirement for property assessment, you’ll start receiving annual notices that should not change as significantly as the one you just received. Q. Is this annual trending policy good? The jury is still out, but it should lead to fairer assessments and reduce the type of significant changes that occurred with once-a-decade assessments. This first year of trending, though, came with a steep learning curve, and some counties missed key deadlines. (See final question.) Q. How can I find out how much my neighbors’ property values increased? A. County Assessor Stacey O’Day is ready to put the numbers online – but has to wait for city and county governments to complete a computer network upgrade. She’s hoping they will be on the county’s Web site – www.co.allen.in.us – before month’s end. Q. I think my property is assessed too high. What do I do? A. You have until April 26 to file an appeal. If you have questions, talk to your township assessor’s office if you’re from one of the seven largest townships – Aboite, Adams, Cedar Creek, Perry, St. Joseph, Washington and Wayne. If you’re from one of the 13 smaller townships, call the county assessor’s office at 449-7123. Q. Does my 30 percent increase in assessment mean my property taxes will go up 30 percent? A. No. Most local governments that levy property taxes – cities, schools, the county and others – are raising the amounts they collect from property taxes by less than 10 percent. Fort Wayne Community Schools expects the money it will raise from property taxes to be flat in 2007, and Fort Wayne city officials have said many individual homeowners may pay a smaller amount for the city’s portion of the tax bill. Q. So my property taxes will go up less than 10 percent this year, right? A. Not necessarily. Several other, more complex factors are at work. For one, the General Assembly in 2005 capped the Property Tax Replacement Credit. That’s money the state used from income and sales tax revenues to offset property taxes. In other words, the legislature transferred some of your tax burden from income and sales taxes back onto property taxes. Two other changes could affect the bill for your primary home. Another tax credit from the state – the homestead credit – is scheduled to be lower this year, resulting in higher property taxes. The other change is good – the 50 percent homestead exemption, similar to a personal exemption on your income taxes, will increase from $35,000 to $45,000 this year, lowering the bill for houses worth more than $70,000. But beware: In 2008, it goes back to $35,000. The General Assembly could, however, decide to help homeowners by keeping the homestead credit at the same level this year. For that matter, lawmakers could make other changes that affect property-tax bills. Q. I’ll know for sure how much I owe in a few weeks when I receive my property tax bill, right? A. Sorry, but property tax bills are going to be late this year – possibly as late as the end of June. Allen County – and a number of other Indiana counties – was late determining assessed valuation, which put the entire process behind. And remember – although all Allen County property owners received the notice of assessment, the tax bills will be sent only to the people who pay the bills. For people with home mortgages, that often means the bill goes not to your home but to the lender or a third party that administers your escrow account. Appeals for Allen County property assessments must be filed by April 26. To learn more about appeals: •Go to the county’s Web site: www.co.allen.in.us •Highlight “Services and Elected Officials”; then highlight “Tax & Property”; then click on: “Assessor’s Office.” •Click on “Appeals Procedures and Forms” That page has much information. Also, within that page, click on “Other Helpful Appeal Information.”
Poster Comment: Sidenote: The Fort Wayne Community Day-Jails [Schools] is clamoring for a $500,000,000.00 school rebuilding, in a community of 250,000. [$2,000.00 per citizen] The last reassessment 2 or 3 years ago caused taxes to rise between 0% to 1,000%. The poor neighorhoods rising the most, the McMansions not at all. The mood in Fort Wayne is damn ugly.
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#18. To: Esso (#0)
This seems to indicate the drop in the value of the dollar as opposed to the rise of property values.
I think you're looking too deeply for an explanation. The only thing indicated here is the government's insatiable, ever-increasing need for stealing more money from the taxpayers. The situation on the ground is that in the timeframe indicated in the article, is that existing property values have declined about 25% on average due to a housing glut. It's greed, my man! Pure and simple. The local pols want their cut before Scumbya laps up all the gravy. The last act of a dying government is to loot the nation. - Michael Rivero
Last year I begged my daughter to sell her home and get out of NJ while the housing market was still hot. She waited, and now it’s up for sale. As best as I can figure, the loss of equity she suffered is equal to what she earned working all of last year. She makes close to $70k per year. This isn't to mention her property taxes are assessed yearly and are now nearing $10k per year mark. This armpit of a state is going one of two ways; either people will become highly pissed off (that's beginning) and take action, or those that can escape will, leaving it for the very wealthy and the welfare leeches.
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