Collections for the 2009 property tax levy are showing healthy numbers despite earlier apprehensions taxing units would encounter shortfalls due to the last minute effort of the Porter County Auditor’s Office to get settlement checks to taxing units in great need of funds by the end of the year.

Porter County Auditor James Kopp said Tuesday the final calculations for all the county taxing units will not be figured for a few weeks yet, but said the overall tax collection in Porter County is close to 95 percent. This is comparable to the 2008 Porter County tax levy which collected 94.5 percent.

So far, eight of the twenty-nine taxing units in Porter County have been calculated by the auditor’s office, most of which are near the 95 percent mark. Chesterton collected 94.4 percent of its levy with a total of $4,856,897.

The city of Valparaiso collected 94.7 of its levy for $16,249,346. The units with the highest percentages include Westchester Fire District with 97 percent totaling $131,597 and Duneland Schools with 96.6 percent for a total of 20,411,967.

Other taxing units yet to be configured are already showing strong consistencies in their tax levies. Porter Town Clerk-Treasurer Carol Pomeroy said she is “still adding up” the figures but the two funds she has are currently showing around 95 percent.

One area showing a bit of struggle is the city of Portage, collecting only 88.9 percent of its levy for a total of $13,920,695. Portage School District also showed a similar shortfall at $17,018,947, just 90.2 percent of its levy.

The auditor’s office worked to make sure all settlement checks were in the mail to taxing units by Monday, Dec. 28. The settlement process took 24 days after the Dec. 4 due date for the tax bills, roughly half the number of days the state allows.

Kopp said in a statement last week tax bills for 2010 will be on-time with two installments of May 10 and Nov. 10 of next year. He mentioned the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance has already received the data to issue Budget Orders for all of Porter County.

Borrowing is likely for some of the taxing units next year who in preceding years had to borrow due to late tax bills. The Porter County Council made an attempt in October to aid taxing units by proposing to hand out $2.9 million of the accumulated interest money earned on the sale of Porter Memorial Hospital, which would give each taxing unit roughly 1.5 percent of their 2007 property tax levy.

In order to use the interest money, the Porter County Board of Commissioners would have also needed to give their approval according to a state statute.

Although the DLGF reporting it saw “no negative budget repercussions” to the property tax levy if the interest money was used, the commissioners never did officially discuss the Council’s proposal.

The Council has not indicated if it will still seek the commissioner’s approval of the proposal, considering the taxing units now have their 2009 settlement checks.