From the LaPorte Herald-Argus:
City of La Porte officials are expecting to pay nearly $1 million in interest payments by the time the county-wide tax situation is resolved.
During the La Porte City Council's Monday night meeting, Mayor Blair Milo expressed frustration that 2012-pay-2013 county property tax bills won't be released until next year.
At the meeting, board members approved motions to attain tax anticipation warrants (loans from the Indiana Bond Bank) for 2014, and to extend the loans already attained in 2013. This is because the county hasn't billed residents for their 2012 property taxes yet.
Milo said the city has already paid $786,196 in interest on those loans.
"All to pay off interest on money we had to borrow to keep the city operating," she said, "(money) spent toward nothing. When all is said and done that's $1 million of tax payer money that went to nothing."
City of La Porte Treasurer Teresa Ludlow said the interest amount is expected to reach beyond $900,000 when the county's tax situation finally resolves itself in the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015.
Ludlow said the bills aren't expected to go out until February or March of 2014, and with the six month extension allowed for taxpayers, the city won't get most of its money until July or August of that year.
She did point out that the city has an interest rate of less than 3 percent because it uses the Indiana Bond Bank. She said interest rates could have been double that amount.
The county's first non-provisional tax bill in years was supposed to have been sent out in November, but delays have caused it to be pushed into next year.
Milo said she has only heard rumors in regards to why there's a delay. But she noted that the city's problems are only the tip of the iceberg. She said residents trying to sell their homes are also having trouble because they can't tell prospective buyers what the taxes are on their properties. They can only give estimates.
Milo said the city is also in the dark regarding the effects of tax cap, because it still doesn't know what its real taxes are.
http://www.heraldargus.com/articles/2013/12/03/news/local/doc529d511cace89563229446.txt
