Neighbors who spoke out against a local construction project now wonder if their higher property assessments are political payback.
The homeowners protested Cobblestone Apartments over questionable zoning changes approved by a Vigo County official with a financial conflict of interest.
Vigo County Assessor Deborah Lewis told us the assessment increases are not political.
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Lewis says anyone who has a concern should visit her office. The deadline for Vigo County property owners to appeal their assessment is Tuesday February 19th.
Click here to search for property values in Vigo County and many other communities in the Wabash Valley.
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NBC 2 also investigated a top local political official's home property assessment dropped nearly $100,000:
Property taxes in Indiana are capped at 1% of a home's value, so homeowners would only pay more in taxes if their assessed value increases.
Homeowners in Terre Haute have contacted us about increases in their latest assessed values. NBC 2 investigated and found some questionable assessments.
The local Republican Party Chairman's assessed value for his home went up almost $30,000, while just a few miles away, the local Democratic Party Chairman saw his home's assessed value drop nearly $100,000.
We showed those assessments to Terre Haute's Harrison Township Assessor Mick Love. He reviewed the numbers and gave us this written explanation:
Per your request I have reviewed the two properties in question.
Although the two houses are in two different neighborhoods, and miles apart, one house went down in value and one house went up.
House # 1 dropped in value $96,600.00. House #2 went up in value $ 21,400.00. I compared each house from 2011 and 2012 values and each house received approximately the same amount of adjustments.
House #1 received 28% adjustments and House #2 received 27% adjustments. House #1 is considerably of more value than of house #2. The only difference of the two houses is the land value going up considerably on house #2.
All of the changes in assessment are due to the new cost tables, new values, new location multiplier and new depreciation tables supplied by the state of Indiana.
After reviewing both properties they appear to be correct.
If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Mick
