Laserfiche WebLink
RESOLUTION NO. ICJ t ( t � 3, <br />A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, <br />VOICING CONCERNS OVER MANY OF THE ASSESSMENTS OF LAND IN THE CITY AND SEEKING <br />AMICABLE SOLUTIONS OF THESE CONCERNS WHICH ARE IN THE <br />BEST INTERESTS OF THE TAXPAYERS <br />WACm , on October 1, 2014 the St. Joseph County Assessor's Office mailed out Form 11- Notice of <br />Assessment of Land and Structures for the 2014 pay 2015 Assessment Year for property owners whose values <br />have changed...'; and <br />�.� even though the St. Joseph County Assessor's Office sent out a News Release on October 2, 2014 <br />notifying the public of this reassessment, many questions have been raised about what many have called <br />"lopsided" relationship between the assessed value, new assessed value and market rate of an increasing number <br />of the properties; and <br />currently taxpayers may appeal no later than May I 01 or 45 days after the date of the tax bill, <br />whichever is later; and <br />QWCwi, the Common Council recognizes that the County Assessor serves as the Secretary to the Property <br />Tax Assessment Board of Appeals which reviews property tax assessments and reviews all tax assessment <br />appeals; and <br />fie, the Common Council further recognizes that the City of South Bend has a website dedicated to <br />"Property Taxes" at www.ci.south- bend.in.us which provides links to the St. Joseph County Treasurer's Office <br />so that assessments, exemptions and payments may be viewed; as well as links to the Department of Local <br />Government Finance, St. Joseph County Assessor, St. Joseph County Auditor; and <br />C*Aa=4 the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) has an oversight role in the property <br />assessment process after the Assessor has placed values on properties in the county; and <br />Q()C. , DLGF reviews "an assessment to sales ratio study" which is "basically a comparison between <br />sales and assessed values in the county to ensure that market values are being used to determine assessed values" <br />in order to measure "the accuracy and equity of assessments" as further addressed on the DLGF website available <br />at www.in.eov ;and <br />attached to this Resolution are the most recent documents listed on the DLGF's website for St. <br />Joseph County which include the July 9, 2014 DLGF approval letter, the June 23, 2014 letter from the St. Joseph <br />County Auditor, and a 1 -page summary page from the 92 -page 2014 Ratio Study; and <br />6XAC %4 the "statewide cyclical reassessment began on July 1, 2014 for the 2015- pay -2016 property taxes, <br />and the next four years [whereby] during the statewide reassessments, county and township assessors physically <br />inspect each property to ensure that records are correct"; and <br />e, during the statewide cyclical reassessment process, assessing officials are to re- assesE <br />"approximately 25% of the parcels in their jurisdiction each year over a four year timeframe" with the DLGF <br />website further stating that "it is expected [that] the data collection will be more accurate and the cost spread out. <br />npimp <br />i <br />