From the LaPorte Herald-Angus:
La Porte County Treasurer Nancy Hawkins will be mailing the 2011-pay-2012 provisional tax bills on Friday.
This summer, two tax bills, 2008-pay-2009 and 2009-pay-2010 “will be bundled together in one bill,” Hawkins said, but each year will have its own column, one for 2008 and another for 2009. Those bills will arrive in August with payment dates of Sept. 18.
The county has not been current with tax bills since the 2006 reassessment but now, legislation written into Senate Bill 19 by State Rep. Tom Dermody, R-La Porte, and signed by the governor, could cost the county millions of dollars in fines if the county fails to meet deadlines.
Essentially, the county will be fined $1 million for each consecutive year the taxes are delayed. The money is to be given to the units of government for interest payments, as they must borrow money to cover expenses while waiting for the property tax distributions.
“Altogether, the county is at risk for $3 million,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said she knows the situation is a hardship for taxpayers. Many people have been doing exactly what Indiana State Auditor Tim Berry suggested when he was in town to speak to area Republicans on March 24. Property owners have been putting away money to pay their taxes, Hawkins noted.
But it’s difficult to know how much to save.
In the 2007-pay-2008 bills, Hawkins said 60 percent of property owners found they owed more money when their reconciled bills arrived, even after they had paid the amount of the provisional bill.
“And 45 percent of them owed $1,000 or more,” she said.
...
http://heraldargus.com/articles/2012/04/05/news/local/doc4f7d01f406a61478093257.txt
