From the La Porte Herald Angus:
Late and uncollected property tax payments have shorted area municipalities and school corporations millions of dollars in funding and cost them hundreds of thousands in interest.
Those are the latest numbers provided by local officials after experiencing six years of provisional tax bills since the county-wide property tax situation began, a situation county representatives say they are trying to turn around this year.
As of January, both major school systems in the county say they are owed $15 million or more still. Michigan City Area Schools is owed almost $16 million from 2008 to 2011, and La Porte Community Schools is putting its figure at around $15 million since 2008. And they are not alone. The city of La Porte has been out an estimated $7 million to $8 million while South Central Schools is short between $2.1 million and $1.6 million depending on the results of recent reconciled bill payments. Tri-Township Schools is looking at around $100,000 to $150,000.
Michigan City Controller Donna Pappas said the city is doing its own study on the lost revenue, but does not have any definite projections yet.
These figures do not take into account the effect of the circuit breaker tax caps, which are not yet known.
Michigan City Area Schools reported receiving only 46 percent of its expected tax draw in 2010-pay-2011. The city of La Porte’s lowest year was 2012 with only 54 percent. La Porte Community Schools collected only 59.8 percent that same year.
La Porte County Treasurer Nancy Hawkins said the county has been collecting about 10 percent less than usual in property taxes since the issue started in 2007, with the percentage of residents paying their bills dropping from between 93 and 95 percent before 2008 to between 83 and 85 percent today.
But nonpayment has not been the only issue. Delayed payments from tax bills have forced some districts to borrow money to meet salary, and then pay interest.
...
But county officials are hoping to solve this problem by the end of the year.
County treasurer Nancy Hawkins said the county has a tentative plan to send out a real property tax bill by Nov. 1 if the state gives permission.
Representative Tom Dermody (R-La Porte) is trying to move the legislation through during this congressional session to help the county’s plan work.
http://www.heraldargus.com/articles/2013/01/31/news/local/doc5109bf32b6a4b159716446.txt
