Porter County Auditor Bob Wichlinski told the County Council at its meeting Tuesday he is ready to mail Porter Regional Hospital tax bills totaling over $5.5 million based on the values the Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals has assigned for 2012 and 2013.
The PTABOA ruled for the values to be $117 million and $244.5 million, respectively.
The revenue will be distributed appropriately among the respective taxing units, he said. The hospital is located in Liberty Twp. and within the Duneland School District at U.S. 6 and Ind. 49.
Wichlinski said there will likely be modifications over time as the hospital has appealed the two assessments to the Indiana Board of Tax Review, but he will issue the bill according to the information he’s received from the assessor’s office.
The County and the hospital have yet to agree, however, on what the assessed values should be for those two years, which also plays a part in setting the ten-year abatement.
Abatement issue progresses
Council Attorney Scott McClure said the hospital has retained Indianapolis Tax Attorney Tom Atherton to work on a solution to the abatement dispute with the County Assessor Jon Snyder. The parties met earlier in the day and had a “productive discussion” dealing with the issue, although no agreement came out of it, McClure said. He encouraged the Council to allow the conversation to continue as the next step in resolving the abatement.
“We’ve come further in the last 30 days than we have in two years,” McClure said.
Meeting with representatives from Porter Hospital’s parent company, Community Health Systems, just recently, McClure said hospital officials have heard the points made by the Council and are looking at the issues with “a fresh set of eyes.”
“I think they understand that time is of the essence and the Council will not lead this into becoming a negative issue,” he said.
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