The Allen County Assessor’s Office was able to use about $74,000 saved through attrition to help pay consulting fees, necessary for negotiating appeals on property tax assessments.
The Allen County Council approved the transfer of money Thursday after Assessor Stacey O’Day told them she would use the money from three positions that were not filled after the employees left.
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In the last three years, the office received 319 agricultural property appeals, 6,317 residential appeals, 1,977 commercial appeals and 298 industrial appeals.
The office weighs many factors when deciding whether to get an appraisal for appeal purposes, said Ryan Keuneke, chief deputy assessor.
“If a case goes before the Indiana Board of Tax Review, we almost always want to have an appraisal on our end if the taxpayer has one prepared for their end because the success rate of appraisals versus no appraisals is very high,” Keuneke said.
The office also must consider that when an assessment is lowered, the other parcels in that taxing district have to pick up the difference in taxes if tax caps are not met. So every appeal affects not only the appealed parcel, but the other parcels in that district as well, he said.
General Motors Co., the top taxpayer in that district, has asked for its assessment to be lowered every year since 2006. The county will invest in an appraisal in that case, Keuneke said.
The assessor’s office feels strongly that its assessment is fair to GM, other taxpayers and the rest of the county, Keuneke said
Allen County officials have been fighting an appeal from Glenbrook Square for 11 years related to the shopping mall’s property tax assessment.
In 2002 – the first year for the state’s court-ordered reassessment of properties – counties had to base a property’s tax assessment on its market value.
Under state law, properties are reassessed every five years. Every year since, the mall’s parent company, General Growth Properties, has filed a tax appeal.
The 1.2 million-square-foot mall – consistently named one of the county’s top taxpaying properties – was sold to General Growth Properties in 2003 for about $220 million. According to assessors at the time, the mall was worth about $64 million.
The assessor’s office is currently in negotiation with Glenbrook.
“Hopefully, this matter will soon be resolved,” O’Day said.
