Deciphering property tax bills

by Kevin Smith
Pharos-Tribune staff writer

July 09, 2009 09:46 pm

— Have questions?
Individuals concerned about their tax bills can contact the county assessor’s office at (574) 753-7710 or visit the office on the third floor of the County Government Building at 200 Court Park in downtown Logansport.

Cass County Assessor Judy Lewis has cited changes in the process of assessing county property values as the reason some area residents are seeing significantly higher or lower property tax bills this year.
Lewis said for the first time her staff assessed property values using the state’s new cap system in which taxes are capped at 1.5 percent for residential, 2.5 percent for farmland and 3.5 percent for commercial property.
As a result, Lewis said, homeowners with multiple parcels on their property are taxed at different rates, which could lead to a variation in their bill from previous years. For a example, a home with a pool is assessed at a rate of 3.5 percent for that portion of land, but only 1.5 percent for the home itself.
She added that increases and decreases in assessed property value leading to higher or lower tax rates might also have resulted from adding to, or removing sections of homes such as a garage, or through a neighborhood property sale higher or lower than previous assessed values.
Similarly, new homeowners who fail to file a homestead exemption for their property will also pay substantially more because they miss out on credits that reduce the value of their home used in the property tax calculation
“Every property is different, each neighborhood is different,” Lewis said. “It depends on so many different things that influence the market that that property is in. With continuos reassessments, in some areas where a building was added to, the value is going to go up. There are a lot of different circumstances because some went up and some went down.”
Treasurer Dawn Conner said her office had received no complaints since the bills were sent out at the end of last week, with the only feedback she has received from people commenting on how low their taxes are now.
“People have commented that they understand the position the city is in now because their taxes are so low,” Conner said.
Lewis encouraged anyone with questions on their assessments to visit her office in the Cass County Government Building.
“We are more than happy to sit down with anyone wanting to know how their assessed value was reached,” she said.
• Kevin Smith is a staff writer at the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at (574) 732-5148 or kevin.smith@pharostribune.com