Property tax rates will go up in 18 of the 29 taxing districts in Porter County this year.

Porter County received its approved budget order on Wednesday, the deadline for the state to certify tax rates for this year’s property tax bills. Porter County became the 49th county to get its budget order.

In Duneland, tax rates will increase in all taxing districts, though most of the increases are small compared to some other areas of the county. The total rates that will be applied to tax bills for the county government, county airport, town, Duneland School Corporation, library system, and township are as follows:

Chesterton in Westchester Twp: 2.2080, up from 2.1613.

Chesterton in Liberty Twp: 2.1469, up from 2.1094.

Chesterton in Jackson Twp.: 2.1296, up from 2.0935.

Porter town: 2.4991, up from 2.3897.

Burns Harbor: 1.7806, up from 1.7260.

Dune Acres: 1.7767, up from 1.7391.

Unincorporated Westchester Twp: 1.5045, up from 1.4799.

Unincorporated Liberty Twp: 1.4661, up from 1.4486.

Unincorporated Jackson Twp: 1.4126, up from 1.3964.

Unincorporated Pine Township in the Duneland Schools: 1.4674, up from 1.4527.

Meanwhile, the county’s homestead credit was certified at 6.5 percent, up slightly from last year’s 6.48 percent. The credit lowers the tax for homeowners.

How much taxpayers will pay in property tax this year will depend in part on how much their individual assessed value changed and if they are subject to the tax caps.

For example, a Chesterton homeowner in Westchester Township who has a house assessed at $200,000 and who gets the typical homestead and mortgage deductions would have a total property tax of $2,017. But because of the state’s tax caps, this bill will be cut, or “capped,” at $2,000.

That would be about a $25 increase over last year’s bill, assuming the assessed value was the same last year.

Other types of property that don’t get the same tax deductions and fall under either the 2 percent or 3 percent tax cap category will fare differently. A downtown Chesterton business, for example, assessed at $200,000 will see a total property tax bill of $4,416, about a $93 increase.

Decreases in the net assessed value in other parts of the county resulted in higher tax rates in some other taxing districts.

The Valparaiso-Center Township tax district had the highest tax rate increase, from 2.4181 to 2.6165. The higher tax rate was due in part to a significant drop in net assessed value as certified by the county. The city of Valparaiso, for example, lost about $57.6 million in AV.

The Beverly Shores tax district has the largest tax rate decrease – from $1.9440 to $1.7045. For a vacant lot assessed at $200,000, the lower tax rate will result in a tax bill of about $3,409, or a cut of about $479.

As always, the county auditor’s office must publish all the tax rates as a legal notice before the May 10 tax bills are due.

Posted 2/7/2012