From the Lafayette Journal and Courier:
Letters from the Tippecanoe County Auditor’s Office are too late for a Halloween fright.
Nevertheless, the correspondence might startle some estimated 3,500 people who receive the notification that their homestead deductions are being removed, which means their property taxes will double in 2014.
Homeowners have had three years to fill out the homestead verification forms, and several local news stories have resulted in a flood of calls to the auditor’s office, reducing the number of unresponsive homeowners to about 3,500. The process now enters the final phase of removing homeowners who do not qualify for the deductions, Auditor Jennifer Weston said.
“We’re going to work on getting letters together next week to remove them,” Weston said. “I do feel like we’ve given ample opportunity at this point.”
Homeowners received the homestead verification form printed on a pink piece of paper in their tax bills. Technically, the deadline to file that paper was the end of 2012, but Weston and her staff pressed on this year to verify those who had not responded.
The state allows property owners to claim one residence for the homestead deduction. Vacation homes and rentals, for example, do not qualify for the homestead credit since they are not the owner’s primary residence.
The standard homestead deduction takes $45,000 off the property’s assessed value for tax purposes. After the standard homestead deduction, a supplemental homestead deduction takes an additional 35 percent off the adjusted assessed value.
The auditor’s office published a list online of the estimated 5,600 property owners who had not verified that they qualify for the homestead deductions.
About 2,100 responded since September, chief deputy auditor Dawn Fay said, initially swamping employees in the auditor’s office with calls, emails and visits from anxious homeowners.
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http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013311020045
