From the Northwest Indiana Times:
City officials learned this week the state Department of Local Government Finance has granted the city its excess levy appeal.
That means, Portage Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham said, the city will be able to collect an additional $663,326 in property tax revenue in 2014.
Stidham said Portage filed the excess levy appeals after they lost property tax appeals to several businesses in the city, including U.S. Steel, over the past few years. The loss of those appeals caused the city to refund property tax money to the companies and reduced the city's tax levy -- the amount of money it can collect through property taxes.
Stidham said the state allows municipalities to try to recoup money paid in refunds.
Stidham said the city applied for excess tax levies for 2011, 2012 and 2013, but won the appeal only for 2013.
The granted levy appeal amount is not quite equal to 100 percent of the property tax refunds given last year, he said.
"It is going to help us build the cash reserve we are trying to build," Stidham said, adding the city entered 2014 on a solid financial footing.
The amount won in the appeal is about 5 percent of the city's total tax levy.
The downside, Stidham said, is that other taxpayers who have not reached their tax cap limits will see an increase in the property taxes paid to the city this year to compensate for the increased tax levy.
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/portage/portage-wins-excess-levy-appeal/article_37ca7f5c-d4ea-5024-908d-663a1f1331ea.html
