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![]() Spends WAY too much time at CBTL ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Admin Posts: 16,431 Joined: 8-December 06 From: Michigan City, IN Member No.: 2 ![]() |
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=46499.27
QUOTE What Is The Value Of Assessors? Their future is in question as officials look at ways to cut costs, better state’s property tax system. Laurie Wink The News-Dispatch LA PORTE - Controversy swirls around proposals to change Indiana's property tax system, with delays in property tax bills and many unhappy with the property assessment system. Gov. Mitch Daniels has proposed eliminating all 1,008 elected county and township assessors. His plan calls for streamlining the assessment process by having a single appointed assessor in each of Indiana's 92 counties selected by county councils. That selection would be on the basis of professional skills and experience, rather than having elected assessors. Howard Conley has been trustee assessor in Springfield Township for 29 years and says the system provides valuable services to residents. Conley isn't against combining some smaller townships. But if county and township assessors are cut, the concern is townships could disappear. "The Governor would like to eliminate township government all together," Conley said. "But you're not going to have volunteer firemen. They won't stay. In order to maintain fire protection, you will have to go to paid firemen. Where's that going to save money?" The Indiana Assessors Association opposes Daniels' plan. While the governor would trim the number of statewide assessors to 92, the assessor group is recommending even fewer; one appointed assessor for 10 regions in the state. Assessors have received the brunt of criticism for late tax bills and increased assessment figures. They want to change the public perception by having supervisors in the 10 regions report to the Indiana Department of Revenue, in an attempt to produce more consistent property assessments. The IAA also would add one certified, experienced assessor in each region who would be selected by and report to the regional supervisors. This approach may eliminate all of the state's elected township assessors. The Indiana Township Association Inc., created to support trustees and assessors, represents more than 750 of the state's 1,008 townships. The organization is preparing to fight efforts to do away with township government. Of La Porte County's 21 townships, only the three largest - Center, Coolspring and Michigan - have full time assessors. The other 18 townships have elected officials serving as assessors and trustees. Mike Schultz, assessor for Center Township, agrees township assessors bring a wealth of knowledge of local properties. Schultz said he has been able to work well with the Nexus Group consultants hired to handle property values. He added his familiarity with Center Township gives him an edge consultants don't have when determining property values. To boost the professional competency of township assessors, the state two years ago required all township assessors to become certified as Level 1 of Level 11 assessors. But Conley says things haven't changed all that much. "It's like before," Conley said. "There are good township assessors and those who don't care if they do a thing. That's what makes it bad for all of us." The veteran township official does not like the move to more centralized and privatized government services being pushed by Daniels. "I voted for him, but he's dead on arrival in the next (election)," Conley said. Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com. |
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![]() Spends WAY too much time at CBTL ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Admin Posts: 16,431 Joined: 8-December 06 From: Michigan City, IN Member No.: 2 ![]() |
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=52393.46
QUOTE McDaniel Owes County Explanation Rick Richards City Editor, The News-Dispatch La Porte County voters had their chance and they blew it. Now we're stuck with County Assessor Carol McDaniel for another three years. Here's hoping the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance follows through with its threat to yank her credentials if she doesn't clear up La Porte County's overdue tax assessment mess by Dec. 10. The DLGF has threatened McDaniel and 22 other county assessors with loss of their assessing credentials and other possible penalties if delinquent tax data for 2008 tax bills isn't cleared up, according to DLGF Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave. That puts the ball squarely in McDaniel's court, but then she's been fumbling the reassessment ball for more than a year. After all, this is the same Carol McDaniel, who right before the 2006 election, "misplaced" $601 of taxpayer money and had such shoddy record keeping that receipts for cash payments to her office from most of 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 couldn't be found. The missing $601 is only what could be documented from about the equivalent of one year of receipts that could be found from those years. And where were those receipt books found? In a trash can at the La Porte County courthouse. McDaniel couldn't explain the missing receipt books or how others wound up in the trash. That didn't matter, though because she found refuge in the Democratic Party when county attorney Robert Szilagyi - who wanted to be Circuit Court judge - brushed aside the missing money as a tempest in a teapot. He said it "hardly qualifies as a scandal or impropriety." If someone walks into my house and takes $601 it's a Class D felony punishable by six months to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Apparently that's not the case if you're an elected official. No wonder rip-off artists who scam non-profits and small businesses in La Porte County can get away with their crime. If stealing $50,000 or $100,000 isn't worth the county's time to prosecute, well, you can understand why they won't prosecute one of their own for $601. But the bigger issue is McDaniel's incompetence with property tax assessment. Her bungling is why no one in the county has a property tax bill yet - more than 10 months after the bills were supposed to be mailed. The News-Dispatch has been trying to ask McDaniel why she hasn't gotten the numbers straightened out and taxpayers still don't have a tax bill. Taxpayers have been asking, too, because they've called me tell me they've tried to get answers. But McDaniel isn't talking to anyone except county attorney Shaw Friedman. When a News-Dispatch reporter asked McDaniel if she could talk after Monday's County Council meeting, she declined, saying we would "have to ask Shaw." When The News-Dispatch telephoned her on Tuesday and asked again, she didn't even bother to return the calls. So when we reported that, we heard from Shaw, who complained that our reporting was making McDaniel look like she didn't want to talk. No, we aren't. She's doing that all by herself. If she wants to ignore reporters, fine. But she ought to be answering questions and talking to every taxpayer she sees. She owes them an explanation. After all, it's taxpayer who put her in office and McDaniel answers to them, not to Friedman or the Democratic Party. McDaniel owes the entire county an explanation. Only this time, her answer can't be dismissed as hardly a "scandal or impropriety." |
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