By MARK MILLER
While the 2023 property tax bills are several weeks away from being mailed, Wells County property taxpayers can find what they will be paying on the Wells County GIS website. Individual results will vary, but the overall trend of homeowners paying a larger percentage of the total property tax levy continues.
As detailed in a series of articles last year, Wells County homeowners were paying 18.78 percent of the total property tax levy in 2018. That had increased to 29.7 percent in 2022 and has again increased for the 2023 cycle. Of the approximately $28 million to be collected in 2023 in property taxes here, homeowners will be assessed about $8.7 million — 31.06 percent of the total, according to data released by county tax consultant Darren Bates.
“Non-residential” — a category that includes business and industrial real estate and business personal property taxes — remains the largest categorical contributor, being billed for about $12.7 million this year. That category’s share of the total pie has been dwindling the past five years, going from just over one-half of the total tax levy in 2018 to 45.37 percent in 2023.
Individual homeowners will see a wide variance in increases — and in some cases decreases — in their 2023 property tax bills. The largest factor in how property tax bills are calculated, again as detailed in that series of articles in the News-Banner last year, is the property’s assessed value. Home values continued to increase in 2022 although there was some moderation later in the year and into 2023. However, demand for residential properties remains strong.
“There’s no question that market values for residential properties, including rentals, is the major factor in this trend,” said Bates, who works with 57 Indiana counties, including Wells. “Meanwhile, commercial property values have kind of flattened out, and even when an assessment might go up, they have big-time lawyers contesting those assessments.
“Ag land,” he continued, “well, that’s a whole other beast.”
Individual results vary
As part of the 2022 study, the News-Banner sampled more than 150 properties in the county which ultimately disclosed that residential sales in individual neighborhoods caused wide variations in individual homeowners’ property tax bills. A sampling of those properties’ changes for 2023 confirm that conclusion but also display how different factors can cause significant increases and, in some cases, decreases. Indeed, some — but few, it appears — homeowners will actually see a decrease in their property tax bill this year.
Of those 150 properties, 30 were selected for this study from 25 neighborhoods. Of those, two properties showed a decrease, both being in the Southern Wells School district — one in Chester Township and one in Jackson Township.
Other examples of changes:
• A number of homes in the Woodlands addition on Bluffton’s north side saw their property taxes increase by about 45 percent in 2022 but this year saw increases in the 1-to-2 percent range.
• Another neighborhood on Bluffton’s northwest side has seen relatively modest increases over the past four years, but 2023 bills are almost 30 percent higher.
• The Bell Brook Villas, which have generally seen their property tax bills double since 2018, will generally see a modest 2 percent increase this year. Meanwhile, just around the corner, the Bell Brook addition of standard residential homes is divided into two neighborhoods in the assessment process. One neighborhood is seeing increases in the 10 percent range while the other has increases in the 18-to-20-percent range.
• Homeowners in Jefferson Township will generally see double-digit-percentage increases in their 2023 bills as a result of a 21.6 percent increase in the township’s tax rate in addition to the Northern Wells School District increase of 1.3 percent in its tax rate. Northern Wells was the only one of the three school districts to see an increase in it’s tax rate.
• While two neighborhoods in the Town of Ossian showed increases of 10-to-11 percent, another experienced increases in the 35-to-38 percent range.
Changes raise questions
An analysis of the county’s 2023 data (see accompanying chart) displays the complexity of the property tax system and often raises more questions than can be answered in one day.
In addition to the assessed values, the budget established by each taxing unit in the county has a significant impact. The county’s total budget of $17.8 million for 2023 is just a 2.5 percent increase over the 2022 budget. The county’s general fund, which handles the bulk of the county’s payroll and other operating expenses, rose 4.77 percent. The County Highway budget, which was the subject of a significant amount of discussion during the budget process last year, rose 12.62 percent.
Interestingly, the tax rate for the county’s Cumulative Capital Development Fund doubled, going from $0.0167 per hundred assessed value to $0.0333, yet the budgeted expenditures for 2023 are $0.
“That’s for the county highway garage project,” explained County Auditor Lisa McCormick. Funds raised this year, and next, are for anticipated 2024 expenditures. Meanwhile, costs for the garage’s ongoing construction are coming out of a previously funded bond fund, not out of the county’s operating funds.
Bluffton’s 2023 city budget shows an 8.4 percent growth over 2022. The city’s general fund grew by 9.5 percent from about $6.3 million to $6.9 million. The town of Uniondale’s budget was approved for a 30.5 percent increase, going from $122,070 in 2022 to $158,339 this year. The town’s general fund increased by almost 17 percent while the town’s Road-and-Street and Motor Vehicle funds display significant increases. Meanwhile, Zanesville’s budget decreased by almost 20 percent, with its general fund decreasing from about $166,000 in 2022 to about $70,000 this year.
The county’s nine townships had a wide range of changes in their 2023 budgets. While six of the nine remained very close to their 2022 budgets (highlighted by Jackson Township’s zero percent budget change), two had significant increases while Chester Township’s budget decreased by 22.4 percent. However, as a display of the complexity of property taxes, the township’s total tax levy increased from 2022 to 2023, moving from $49,457 to $52,214.
McCormick explained that the tax levy is rate driven to fund the township’s Cumulative Firefighting fund. Neither the township’s General fund nor its Township Assistance fund has received property tax support for at least the past five years since the township has more than adequate cash reserves.
Nottingham Township’s 2023 budget is a 26.2 percent increase over its 2022 budget. However, the township’s tax rate went down about 13 percent due to a healthy 16 percent increase in the township’s total assessed value. Jefferson Township garnered the honor of the county’s largest percentage-gain in its budget, growing by more than 42 percent, from $137,392 in 2020 to $195,690 in 2023. That caused the township’s tax rate to jump about 21.5 percent despite the township’s 12.4 percent gain in total assessed value.
The county’s three school systems had consistent percentage increases in their budgets. Southern Wells led the three with a 12.9 percent increase in its total budget, but also had the largest decrease in its tax rate due to a healthy increase in the school district’s total assessed value.
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A homeowner whose 2023 tax bill is more than 30 percent higher than last year posed a question: “So where’s my (additional) $500 going? How is it being used?”
The short answer can be found in the totals of the county’s taxing unit budgets: As detailed in the accompanying chart, those total just over $101 million for 2023 versus about $93.5 million in 2022, an 8.3 percent increase (which happens to closely match the nation’s rate of inflation.) The total property tax levy, meanwhile, has increased by 9.7 percent, which verifies one of the findings and predictions made as part of the 2022 property tax series published here — that Wells County property tax payers, who are generally paying a lower percentage of their property value than other comparable Indiana counties, can expect to pay an increasing portion of the total tax burden.
miller@news-banner.com
