The Marion County Board has approved a study to determine why the county ranks 98th out of the 102 counties for disparity between property tax assessments and the actual sales value of property.
Property Evaluation and Tax Advisors, LLC will be paid $14,800 to look for ways the county can improve. They will deliver a report in about two months.
Several county board members, led by Brock Waggoner and Josh Dunahee, led the push for the study to address inequities, which they say are causing some residents and businesses to pay extremely high property taxes.
Board member Adam Smith voted no, saying the results may bring higher taxes to about 75 percent of the residential property owners in the county who are under-assessed. Dunahee responded that if everyone was properly assessed, we would all be paying our fair share, and we wouldn’t see the dramatic increases that could force people out of their homes.
The biggest debate was over how to pay for the study, as County Treasurer Gary Purcell informed them that the contingency was already $14,000 over budget. They finally settled on using money being returned to the General Fund by Circuit Clerk Tiffany Shicker for the generator installation project. The $33,000 will cover the study cost as well as the earlier purchase that resulted in the negative budget.
Supervisor of Assessments Mark Miller is looking forward to what suggestions are made to improve his office.
