From the Northwest Indiana Times:
The Porter County Council will have a proposed ordinance on its May 22 agenda that would offer some relief to residents who owe back taxes from homestead exemption violations.
Council President Dan Whitten made that promise to County Board of Commissioners President John Evans during Tuesday's commissioners' meeting. The violations happen when people own multifamily buildings and live in part of a building but receive a homestead exemption on the entire building.
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County Auditor Bob Wichlinski at first said he would grant amnesty for past years because it would be too hard to calculate the exact amount owed. That decision was overturned by the state's Department of Local Government Finance, which ruled the money had to be collected.
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, said Tuesday it appears the state law allows the county's fiscal body, the council, to approve a moratorium on one year of penalties and interest and also allow the county treasurer to set up a one-year payment plan for the remaining money owed.
Soliday said he is awaiting written confirmation from the state agency, but he disputed Wichlinski's claim that the interest and penalties go to the state. Soliday said the state gets nothing. The taxes go into the auditor's nonreverting fund, which was meant to cover the cost of collecting the taxes, but Soliday said the law did not envision a case that would involve $1.4 million as this does.
Evans made a request to which Soliday said it is his intent to introduce a bill that would allow the money to go to the county general fund and to the various taxing entities. But it would happen only after enough money was set aside to cover the auditor's expenses.
County Councilwoman Karen Conover said all the taxing entities are experiencing financial problems because of the tax caps and the shortfalls caused by the recession, and the auditor should not be able to keep all of the funds. Evans said the problem will be figuring out how to do a fair assessment to determine how much of a multi-unit building is eligible for the homestead exemption.
Soliday and Assessor John Snyder said they asked the state agency how other counties handled the calculation without going into each building and measuring the rooms. Soliday said nobody wants to go after the little old lady who rents a spare room to a college student.
The council has to enact the ordinance by July 1, and it would apply to taxes owed before Jan. 1 of this year.
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/porter-county-might-give-homestead-violators-some-help/article_c9d5d4de-cba7-5b46-9580-e956b3254a71.html
