Department of Local Government Finance out to screw you
May 16th, 2008INDIANAPOLIS – State officials are considering a subtle change to Indiana’s assessment rules that could have a large effect on properties in mixed-use areas.
Assessors annually use sales data of like properties in an area to adjust the assessed value of a property, a process called trending.
But the Department of Local Government Finance – which oversees the assessment system – is drafting a new assessing manual that could change the process. It wouldn’t be applied until taxes payable in 2012.
In the proposed manual, the Department of Local Government Finance wants to move from a “market value in use” system to just “market value” – a change that sounds small but has some county and township assessing officials worried.
E-mails are floating around saying that the change in rules would shift the burden of property taxes from commercial and industrial property to residential.
[...]
Department of Local Government Finance spokeswoman Mary Jane Michalak said Indiana’s current market value in use system reflects the way property is being used now.
But most other states use market value, which is what properties of a similar nature are going for on the open market regardless of their current use.
Under the proposal, in areas having mixed usage of commercial, industrial and residential properties, homes would no longer be compared with only similar residential properties. Instead nearby properties in other categories – such as commercial or industrial – may also be included in the sales data used to determine the assessed value on that home.
How does a property valued at say $1.5 million that is occupied by a retailer have a anything thing to do with the value of a home? When a realtor tries to come up with the value of your home for listing, they use the tried and true method called “comparables”. From Wiki:
Comparables (or comps) is a real estate appraisal term referring to properties with characteristics that are similar to a subject property whose value is being sought.
How does commercial and industrial property have anything to do with residential property values? It doesn’t.
Maybe the Department of Local Government Finance is feeling the heat from cities and towns for their losses in property tax revenues. This appears to be nothing more than a way to sidestep the recent property tax decreases.
AWB
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Time posted: 4:40 pm


Earlier this week, 911 dispatch received a call where the complainant that their neighbor was letting freon out of an air conditioner and it was going to kill the ozone. Sheesh.

