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By VICKI URBANIK

The Porter County Commissioners went on the record Tuesday in support of a state constitutional amendment on property tax caps, while also forming a committee to study the possibility of consolidating the county’s precincts into vote centers.

The tax cap resolution was proposed by County Commissioner President Robert Harper, who has long advocated controls on property taxes. Harper read a statement blasting special interest lobbyists and others who are expected to try to stall the amendment language in the 2009 session.

“The legislators that are against this cap failed to acknowledge that homeownership is a sign of commitment to the community,” Harper said. “It is seen by our families as a place to raise their families and retire in peace. Those representatives that are caving in to the lobbyists simply see a house as a taxing engine.”

Indiana legislators this year passed H.E.A. 1001, which included tax caps. Once fully in place in 2010, the caps will mean that property taxes on homes cannot exceed 1 percent of the assessed valuation; in other words, a home assessed at $100,000 cannot get a tax bill for more than $1,000. Other properties will be capped at higher levels up to 3 percent for business taxes.

Lawmakers also passed an amendment making the caps permanent as part of the state’s constitution, but the process requires two consecutive years of passage, followed by a voter referendum.

Harper urged taxpayers who support the constitutional amendment to email or call their state senators and representatives in support. He said he fears that lobbying groups will convince lawmakers to either rescind the tax cap or not make the caps part of the constitution.

“Make no mistake. Those who oppose making this constitutional cap constitutional do not want to come right out and say so,” Harper said. “They don’t agree with many who feel that it is sound public policy to cap property taxes at 1 percent of a home’s assessed value. Because they realize that it is unpopular to say they are against the cap, you will hear them say things like ‘well, let’s just wait a year or so’ or ‘let’s leave it like it is and not make it a constitutional cap.’

“When you hear people say this, it simply means one thing and one thing only,” Harper said. “They believe and prefer the flexibility to tax over property tax protection for the homeowner.”

After Harper, a Democrat, read his statement, North Porter County Commissioner John Evans, a Republican, told Harper: “I think you just turned Republican.”

Evans said he agrees that the tax caps are the only real way to curb property taxes and that the only concern he has had with the tax cap language in H.E.A. 1001 is that businesses have a higher tax cap rate of 3 percent.

The commissioners’ resolution endorsing the amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 1, passed unanimously by Harper, Evans and South County Commissioner Carole Knoblock.

Voting Centers

Evans also made a statement Tuesday, calling on Porter County to establish vote centers, possibly taking the lead in the entire state.

Evans said Porter County has 124 polling places. “It’s totally ridiculous,” he said, estimating that the costs of elections could be cut by about a third if the polling places were consolidated.

He also said that the large number of precincts were drawn up at a time when people lacked efficient transportation. “Nobody rides horses to the polling places any more,” he said.

With that, Harper suggested forming a committee to study the consolidation issue. The committee is to consist of Democrat Party Chair Jeff Chidester and Republican Party Chair Chuck Williams or their designees, and the three members of the Porter County Election Board or their designees.

Harper said the committee will explore what precincts could be consolidated, before presenting its recommendations to the commissioners next year.  Evans agreed that now is the best time to do a study; because there are no regular elections in 2009, he said the public would have ample time to comment on the proposed vote centers.

The idea of consolidating voter precincts has been discussed off and on for years. But just on Monday, during the Porter County Council’s budget hearings, Election Board President J.J. Stankiewicz suggested a needs assessment, possibly including consolidated vote centers, of the county’s election system.

 Posted 11/19/2008