Bill to delay state reassessment in doubt-WEB ONLY

The fate of a bill that would delay statewide property
tax reassessment by one year is in doubt in the upcoming special legislative
session.

Assessors are scheduled to begin the first comprehensive general reassessment
of property in about a decade starting July 1, but tax officials and lawmakers
hope to delay that work because some counties already are a year behind in
billing.

A tax and revenue bill that included a provision to delay the start of
reassessment was allowed to die on the last night of the regular session in
hopes of renewing it during the expected special session on the budget.

But Senate President Pro Tem David Long (R-Fort Wayne) said last week the
Senate will consider only one bill – the budget. That casts doubt on the
reassessment bill’s chances during the special session expected later this
month.

“There’s nothing controversial in there,” Rep. Peggy Welch (D-Bloomington)
told The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne. “It’s not a very sexy and exciting bill,
but there are some really important issues in there.”

The Senate had approved the overall bill, but Welch said she discovered a few
drafting errors in the compromise and there wasn’t time to fix them. So after
the budget died and she knew there would be a special session, Welch didn’t call
the bill for a final vote in the House.

Welch said House Speaker Pat Bauer (D-South Bend) and others support passing
the bill in its compromise form during the special session.

“It’s something that should stand alone, and we should be able to handle it
zip-zip,” Welch said. “My commitment is to keep it clean and
non-controversial.”

Long said he would consider putting some of the bill’s provisions into the
budget. The biggest provision is likely the one affecting reassessment. The reassessment – which includes property inspections to ensure the state
has accurate data on file – would be for the 2011 property tax bills, which are
paid in 2012.

But only about a quarter of the state’s 92 counties have mailed property-tax
bills this year, and some still haven’t reconciled 2007 bills. Local Government
Finance Commissioner Timothy Rushenberg believes a one-year delay is necessary
for some counties to catch up.

“They should all be on relatively equal footing,” he said.

But Rushenberg is telling assessors around the state to assume the law won’t
be changed.