MAC is Back on the Job

Wow, how many alarms did I sleep through? It’s been a while, Montgomery County. But hey, your faithful watchdog . . . that would be yours truly, is back and ready to get to work.

We have a question from Don (who could be the Godfather, I don’t really know because he didn’t share his last name) about a topic that has a lot of people hot to trot. So without further ado, here’s Don.

Yo MAC! With homeowners receiving their property reassessments recently it might be the time to explain the difference in how the new assessments were calculated. Will the local entities receive a windfall of tax revenue at the expense of property owners or will this balance out? Will the tax rate go down in relationship to the amount property assessments went up?

Well Don, my friend, your question actually stretches across two offices, the assessor and the auditor. So, my trusty sidekick reached out to the talented twosome of Montgomery County Assessor Sherri Bentley and Montgomery County Auditor Jennifer Andel for the straight scoop.

Here’s Sherri:

The county assessor is required to physically visit each parcel in the county once every four years to assess the physical characteristics of the parcel. We are required to perform a ratio study every year; however, to determine if properties are selling for more or less than we are assessing them. Properties can be grouped together based on a variety of characteristics (lot size, school district, house type, etc), then a study is performed on each grouping. If houses in a grouping sold for more than they were assessed, the structures of every property in that group are raised the same percentage. If they sold for less, the structures of every property in that group are lowered by the same percentage. The end result should be close to what an owner could sell the property for. If not, the property owner should contact their county assessor to discuss the assessment and possibly file an appeal. In Indiana, June 15 is the statutory deadline file an appeal.

And here’s Jennifer:

Once the assessor is finished, she certifies those gross assessed values to the county auditor. The auditor’s staff applies all of the deductions, non-profit and government exemptions, abatements or TIF factors to each parcel, as applicable. Some of the deductions and abatements are calculated as a percentage of gross assessed value, so increased values mean that those particular deductions will increase as well.

Once the auditor’s calculations are complete, we have the Certified Net Assessed Values (CNAV’s). CNAV’s must be approved by the state. CNAV’s are then broken out for all taxing units in the county, and each unit uses their CNAV as one of the factors for setting next year’s budgets. The state also sets the limit for how much tax levies are allowed to increase from year to year by setting the statewide average growth quotient. Taxing units have to stay within that limitation. What we generally see is that in order to do that, if CNAV’s go up for a taxing unit, the tax rates will decrease; if CNAV’s go down or remain static for a taxing unit, the tax rates are likely to increase. After looking at requested budgets and all of these factors, they are adjusted to meet the limitations, voted upon locally and submitted to the state for approval. Once budgets are approved, the state will set the taxing rates that are used for tax bill calculations.

A breakdown of all values, deductions, rates and details about where your tax dollars go is located on the second page of every tax bill.

How’s that for complete and educational answers! The Paper and MAC, your Montgomery Answer Connection, thank both fine public servants for their quick responses and great help!

What about everyone else? Got a question for Ask MAC? Just go to The Paper’s web site at www.thepaper24-7.com and click on the Ask MAC icon. Type your question in and send away and then be sure to read The Paper each week. Why? Because Ask MAC gets answers!