Errors by the Monroe County auditor and Indiana state auditor’s offices cost Monroe County Community School Corp. an estimated $425,000 in 2012 tax money. The money was mistakenly given to TIF districts in Monroe County and the city of Bloomington after both the county auditor’s office and the state auditor’s office failed to take into account recent changes in state legislation. Previously, all property taxes
collected in tax increment financing districts were given to local economic development officials to be used for either infrastructure improvements or repayment of debts incurred by those improvements. However, a 2011 amendment to state law allows school districts that levy additional taxes for 2012 and later to collect those taxes. A referendum was voted in for MCCSC in 2010, and the Monroe County Auditor’s Office, under Amy Gerstman, failed to include the changes for the TIF and school districts when it submitted the tax abstract to the state for 2012, said Monroe County Auditor Steve Saulter. The state auditor failed to catch the county’s mistake. Saulter said he was unaware of the change in state law until Tim Thrasher, director of business
operations for MCCSC, brought to his attention a problem with the tax money received by the district. Thrasher became concerned after noticing tax money received by the school district was about $500,000 less than was estimated. “That was a huge difference,” Thrasher said. “Usually we collect, if not the entire levy, 98 or 99 percent.” ... See the full article here:
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