By Aleasha Sandley, Journal Review
Montgomery County will have to reassess its unimproved commercial and industrial property because the original assessments were outside the acceptable range for accuracy mandated by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.
Contracted assessment company Ad Valorem Solutions assessed no change in average worth of 67.7 percent of properties in the industrial class from figures used in 1999 to those used in 2005, said Barry Wood of the DLGF in a public hearing Monday.
"Between 1999 and 2005 one would expect there would be some change in property value," Wood said.
However, when Ad Valorem used sales figures from industrial properties, the properties came in at 95 percent of the average level of assessment, which must fall between 90 and 110 percent, Ad Valorem's Jay Morris said.
County assessor Peggy Hudson said, "I felt like we met the requirements of the state, and we will do what we're required to do."
The county is being asked to retrend the commercial and industrial properties in question by using a cost formula that takes into account the property's depreciation, value of the neighborhood surrounding it and value of the land surrounding it, Wood said.
The reassessment could take until the end of the year, but will probably be much shorter than that, DLGF Director Cheryl Musgrave said.
Tax bills will still come out in November and be payable on time, but commercial and industrial property owners might receive an additional bill or refund check once the reassessments are finished, Morris said.
"It might be a wash," Musgrave said. "As many might go up as will go down. The overall funding might be the same, but at least tax bills will be fair."
The hearing was filled with residents concerned about their property taxes, but most of them had questions about residential taxes, which are not being reassessed.
"It's just disappointing to see the residential (taxes) will not be part of this," resident Don Swearingen said.
Residents brought up the need to better define the neighborhoods their houses are included in for assessment purposes and a desire for the county to amend the recently passed local option income tax, which will be one-tenth of 1 percent.
"We need the County Council to raise it to 1 percent," Swearingen said.
The local option income tax will be discussed at a special meeting of the County Council and Board of Commissioners 8 a.m. Friday at the courthouse. The LOIT committee will discuss whether they should recommend changing or initiating the LOIT option they approved. The public is invited.