Hearings will begin Oct. 16
By MARK MILLER
Perhaps to no one’s surprise, the Wells County Assessor’s office has had a busy summer.
“It’s been crazy,” Assessor Laura Roberts shared.
The office is dealing with 112 formal appeals to property tax assessments, more than double last year’s number. Of those, 25 will be forwarded to the appeals board, which is also more than twice last year’s total. The first hearings will be held at the Oct. 16 meeting of the PTABOA — Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals — and will likely continue onto the November meeting. She has not considered scheduling any special meetings to handle the load.
Roberts understands that the issue is not unique to Wells County.
“We’re one of the smaller counties, with fewer parcels, but Allen County and Steuben — they’ve just been overwhelmed,” she said.
The main reason for the increase is “certainly peoples’ frustration with the continued increases in assessments,” she continued, “but we’re just following the rules.” She and her office are, in turn, frustrated by the number of “Realtors who encourage people to appeal but then turn around and list homes at higher than their assessed values.”
“I don’t understand the logic,” she said.
She reports that one of the members of the PTABOA had appealed all of his properties as well as his residence, which value was reduced. She reported he then listed that home for sale at higher than that lowered assessed value.
Roberts would like to propose a new state law that would basically prevent anyone who has filed an appeal on their property’s value from selling that property for any amount over that assessed value within a specified period of time. “But I’m just taking out my frustrations,” she added. “Appeals cost the county time and money.”
Meanwhile, the state legislature enacted a number of property tax relief measures that take effect for the 2023-pay 2024 cycle, including expanding the “Over 65” circuit breaker and a temporary two-year increase in the Homestead Supplemental Deduction. Meanwhile, Wells County Council recently voted to reduce the local property tax credits beginning next year, although that will not impact assessments.
Roberts is unsure about how all that will impact assessments and tax rates in the coming years. She has been working on another provision the legislature also passed this year that reduces the 3 percent cap on residential outbuildings such as barns and sheds and other structures, such as swimming pools, to the 1 percent residential cap.
“The legislation allows us to wait until 2024-pay-25 year to implement this,” she explained, “but we’ve already had people asking about this.”
Property owners could appeal their assessment if the change is not factored in. To avoid that, Roberts is working to implement it this year.
“But what impact will that have on the tax rate?” she asked. The lower the total assessed value of each taxing unit is, the higher the tax rate has to be to raise the required funds, which impacts all taxpayers.
“I’m a homeowner and a taxpayer too,” she continued. “Our home’s value has gone up. It just is what it is.” She can recite a number of statistics and examples about the continued increase of housing costs because of the shortage of housing. “I just don’t see it changing any time in the near future,” she said.
miller@news-banner.com
