From the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:
Property tax bills for Allen County were mailed Friday, and most people who open them will see a “slight to moderate” increase in the amount they have to pay.
William Royce, chief deputy treasurer, said 172,000 bills went through the stuffing machine; taxes are due May 10.
Many taxpayers will see increases of up to 5 percent in their bills, thanks to a referendum passed for Fort Wayne Community Schools last May. Voters in the school district approved a $119 million building plan, giving FWCS the go-ahead to renovate 36 of its aging buildings.
Allen County Auditor Tera Klutz said that for the owner of a $100,000 home, the increase will be about $25. The increase is possible, despite constitutional restrictions on residential property taxes that limit property taxes to 1 percent of the value of your home, because the tax approved by the referendum falls outside the caps.
“That will probably be our No. 1 question we get on the phone Monday,” Klutz said. “Why are we paying more than 1 percent when there’s a tax cap?”
The other question officials expect to hear is how it is possible that tax bills are going up but taxing bodies are complaining their revenues are down.
“It’s going to be so hard for taxpayers to hear ‘slight to moderate increase’ and then the headline is that governments are getting less money,” Klutz said. “All they see is their tax bill increasing.”
Of course, that one tax bill is actually several tax bills rolled into one, from school districts to fire districts to libraries, the airport, city, county and township. Each of those introduces its own variables, from adding new taxes or dropping taxes or increases in property values.
In addition, some areas have most taxpayers protected by caps – meaning tax hikes don’t affect them unless they’re for funds outside the cap – and others have few taxpayers under the cap, so they feel the full extent of any tax increase.
“It used to be a lot simpler,” Klutz said.
The caps may not offer all the protection taxpayers thought, but governments will feel their bite. The city of Fort Wayne will get about 15 percent less than it levied because of the caps. Wayne Township, Northwest Allen County Schools and the Fort Wayne Public Transportation district will each get about 14 percent less, according to the auditor’s office.
For funds not affected by the referendum, FWCS will lose about 10 percent, as will St. Joseph and Perry townships, Allen County Public Library, Allen County and the Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority. All told, the caps will cost local governments – and save local taxpayers – about $41 million this year.
As usual, both the spring and fall payment coupons are included on the same property tax bill, so there will be no fall bill mailed out. The spring tax payment is due May 10, and the fall payment is due Nov. 12.
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