A report on Marion County’s property tax assessments showed several issues for the wide disparity between tax assessments and the value of property. Gary Twist of Property Evaluation and Tax Advisors says some properties in the county have not been reassessed for 25 years and the last large commercial reassessment occurred in 2010. He noted no four-year reassessment as required by state law has ever been completed.
Twist also noted assessment data is housed in two separate computer programs.
“There is no single data source where the descriptions of all properties are uniformly assembled,” Twist said. “Once the data is in a single uniform and consistent position, a number of computer assisted mass appraisal systems, CAMAs, those are called, may be used to evaluate properties.”
Twist suggested several options to correct the assessment issues, but says the quickest and best option for contracting with an outside firm to do an complete reassessment would also be very expensive. Another option would be adding a person at the supervisor of assessment office to assist the township assessors who Twist said largely now feel hopeless and could use help. Additional help was also suggested to get all of the property drawings onto the one computer system. The board could recommend a full site visit for all commercial property and a desk review for residential properties. He’ll give a full list of options along with estimated costs to correct the problem in the future.
Twist noted while the reassessments are required every four years it is not clear under state law if that responsibility lies with the supervisor of assessments or the individual township supervisors.
“There is a potential for enhancing the accuracy of Marion County assessment. It’s doable moving forward. Achieving this will require significant dedication and effort. Nevertheless, improving assessment accuracy and fostering increased confidence in the system remain attainable objectives. Township assessors, the supervisor of assessments and all associated personnel are expected to prioritize and support this initiative over an extended period.”
Twist says if the county does nothing the disparity between assessments and actual value will continue to grow as it has in recent years. Marion County is currently ranked 98th among the 102 counties for inequities between assessed values and sale values.
Twist reported that the Supervisor of Assessments’ office was properly completing its other tasks, including handling tax exemptions and publishing tax assessment changes annually, as required by law.
Twist did not answer questions on Wednesday night but asked that all questions be submitted in writing. Board Chair Steve Whritenour set a December 1 deadline for submitting questions. He says Supervisor of Assessment Mark Miller will also be given an opportunity to respond to the board at a future meeting.
You can view the full Marion County assessment study here:
