LAPORTE | The state is looking to end the lingering property tax delays in LaPorte County by threatening County Auditor Craig Hinchman with criminal prosecution.
The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance has set a Friday deadline or the matter will be turned over to the LaPorte County prosecutor's office for possible filing of charges.
The state's intentions were revealed to Hinchman and other local officials in a Monday letter signed by Timothy Rushenberg, commissioner of the DLGF.
Hinchman on April 14 was given the reassessment figures for 2006 by the LaPorte County assessor's office.
He had 30 days to certify those figures, something he's obligated to do under state law, Rushenberg said.
Failure by Hinchman to certify those numbers has meant further delays in receiving tax dollars by local municipalities and schools, who without fresh tax money have had to borrow millions of dollars the past two years to operate, Rushenberg said.
Under state law, an officer of state or local government who "recklessly violates or fails to perform a duty imposed on him" commits a Class A misdemeanor, Rushenberg said.
Such an offense is subject to civil liability, he said.
The 2006 property tax bills were contested and recently recalculated and certified by LaPorte County Assessor Carol McDaniel, who recently was asked by LaPorte officials to resign.
With the state requesting that Hinchman certify the revised figures, McDaniel said she feels assured the numbers put forth by her office with just a few exceptions were correct all along.
"I just proved to the people I am doing the right thing. That's the reason I stuck this out," McDaniel said.
Hinchman, though, said he continues to believe the reassessment was flawed.
He along with the county commissioners and county attorney were meeting Tuesday to discuss how he should respond to the deadline.
Hinchman said he's also obligated by state law not to sign any reassessment figures he feels are incorrect.
"That's why I'm uncomfortable certifying that. It puts me in a Catch 22," Hinchman said.
The reassessment was touched off by appeals from landowners primarily along Lake Michigan who alleged their taxes, in many cases, had at least tripled to ease the burden on all other properties in the county.
