Porter County officials will meet with the state on Thursday to discuss a number of issues involving the county’s delayed property tax billing, foremost of which will be the potential that the 2009 tax bills will go out even later than already anticipated due to delays in neighboring LaPorte County.

The Porter County Commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday formally requesting that the state waive a requirement that tax settlements for the most recent, 2008 tax bills must be completed in all parts of the county before the state will issue budget orders and tax rates for the 2009 bills.

Porter County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger, who has been coordinating the county departments that handle property taxes, noted that LaPorte County is farther behind Porter in its tax bill work. LaPorte, which has undergone a countywide reassessment, is still working on the 2006 property taxes payable in 2007.

As a result, Porter County has not yet issued the 2008 tax bills for the three taxing districts in Pine Township that are in the Michigan City school district, namely, the towns of Pines and Beverly Shores and an unincorporated portion. Those tax bills will not go out until LaPorte County gets caught up with its 2008 tax data.

If Porter County will be unable to get its budget orders issued for 2009 until all 2008 taxes are billed and collected -- including the taxes for the three districts in Pine Township -- then Porter County’s tax bills could be even more delayed than already projected, according to the resolution.

County officials have already anticipated that the 2009 tax bills will be late, due to the delays with the 2008 tax bills and with the implementation of a new tax software program.

The commissioners’ resolution, which is expected to be approved by the Porter County Council as well, asks the state to waive its requirement that the tax settlement process must be done in all taxing units before the 2009 tax bills can proceed. The resolution notes that Porter County’s ability to complete its 2008 settlement is currently beyond its control, since it is dependent on another county to get caught up.

The resolution also notes that the taxpayers and the county’s elected and appointed officials “wish to work diligently in a manner that will return the county to an appropriate, reasonable and correct property tax calendar in the most expedient manner possible.”

County officials intend to present the resolution at a meeting Thursday involving the DLGF, state auditor, and State Board of Accounts. The county contingent will include Rinkenberger and representatives from the auditor and treasurer offices.

Rinkenberger said another topic that will be addressed at Thursday’s meeting will be the county’s new tax billing software. The state needs to approve the contract with the new vendor, Low Associates, but has not yet done so.

The county began the purchase of the Low system after a variety of glitches with the previous tax software from Hamer Enterprises. The commissioners earlier this month approved a budget transfer of $20,000 needed to begin the installation. On Tuesday of next week, the Porter County Council will consider funding requests from the auditor and treasurer offices for an additional appropriation of $235,718 for each office toward the Low purchase.

Other topics that will be discussed at the state-county meeting Thursday will include the state’s recent order that the assessor’s office resubmit a ratio study for taxes payable in 2009 to take into account certain residential areas that have been underassessed; the 2008 collections and settlement process; and the work needed to be done on property splits and transfer of properties.

DLGF communication specialist Amanda Stanely said the DLGF is pleased to participate in Thursday’s meeting in order to answer any questions the county officials have. She said the meeting should help “keep open the lines of communication.”

Posted 4/22/2009