HANCOCK COUNTY — The phones have been ringing off the hook at the Hancock County Assessor’s office ever since county residents started receiving their property tax assessments in the mail over the past three weeks.
Assessor Cindy Roberts said her office has received between 30 and 40 phone calls per day regarding this year’s property assessments, which increased an average of 20% to 30% this year.
“The tax forms were mailed out on April 28, and people have until June 15 to appeal,” said Roberts, who said 130 property owners had filed an appeal as of Wednesday morning.
A lot of residents calling in to question their bills simply need help understanding them, said the assessor.
“One person’s assessment went from $284,800 to $337,400, which they thought was a 250% increase, when actually it was an 18.5% increase,” she said.
Roberts took over as assessor on April 17 after the previous office holder — Katie Molinder — left to lead a local nonprofit.
Last May, Molinder told the Daily Reporter that home assessments rose 15% to 20% in 2022, with some jumping as much as 30%.
Indiana is a market value state, meaning property assessments are based on the real estate market. Since home prices have increased significantly over the past few years, so too have property assessments.
With the real estate market continuing to be seller-driven due to low inventory and high demand, the price of homes in Hancock County has been on the rise.
“This year we saw crazy high sale prices, and that in turn created the (property assessment) increase that we’ve had,” said Roberts. “If the market goes the other way then they’ll go back down.”
Roberts said low interest rates in 2022 also played a big role, allowing buyers the opportunity to snap up higher-priced homes, which in turn drove up the county’s average home assessment.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported that the average 30-year home loan rate was 4.72% in April 2022 before jumping to 7.08% last fall — the highest in two decades.
Greenfield Bank was offering a 30-year fixed home loan at 6.5% as of Wednesday, May 17.
That same morning, Roberts was reviewing the records of a home in Oak Commons that recently sold for $208,000 — more than $48,000 over what it assessed for in 2022.
Purchasing for well over the last assessed value has been the case for many local home buyers, said Greenfield-based Realtor Jeff Clark of RE/MAX Realty Group.
“It definitely falls under a double edge sword, in that it’s good for homeowners as they go to sell but existing homeowners can come under the burden of higher taxes,” he said.
Clark encourages all homeowners to review their property assessments carefully, and to make sure they have their homestead and mortgage exemptions filed.
“The county assessor or a Realtor can advise you on getting those exemptions in place, which is a major component to helping reduce your tax liability,” he said.
Roberts encourages homeowners to report changes in their property to the assessor’s office since some modifications — like removing a swimming pool or deck — could help reduce an assessment.
“We don’t know what’s going on with your property until it sells, so if you’ve made modifications reach out to us and let us know. Look at your (property assessment) card and let us know if you have any errors, and we can fix it for you. You don’t even have to file an appeal, we’ll just fix it,” she said.
“We don’t take it personally if people appeal. In fact, we encourage it. We really encourage people to come in and talk to us or look for information online. If more than one person in a neighborhood appeals, it gives it more weight,” said Roberts, who has worked in the Hancock County assessor’s office for nearly 25 years.
The last time she can recall there being this much public outcry over property assessments was in 1995 when the county changed the way it did assessments by determining the assessed value and dividing by three before applying the tax rate.
“Really the end results were about the same, but getting everyone on board with that change took time,” she said.
She hopes the same will be true for 2023 as the public becomes more aware of the effects the changing real estate market has on property assessments.
Nicole Byerley, a tax settlement administrator in the Hancock County Auditor’s office, said property assessments and tax rates tend to have an inverse relationship, meaning when one goes up, the other typically goes down.
She encourages anyone with questions regarding their property tax assessment to view a video posted on the Hancock County government’s website that breaks down how the process works step by step.
The video, titled 2023 Property Tax Assessment Study, can be found at HancockIN.gov.
