GARY | Calumet Township Assessor Booker Blumenberg maintains there is no state takeover of his office, only a political misinformation campaign by state officials to weaken him in an election year.
Blumenberg, who must run for re-election in the May 4 primary and may face a referendum to abolish his office later in the year, issued a news release this week denouncing Timothy J. Rushenberg, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.
Mary Jane Michalak, chief of staff for the state agency, responded Thursday afternoon that it is the poor quality of Blumenberg's work that triggered this crisis, which she said endangered the process of assessing each property owner's fair share of tax burden.
"He had a deadline, and he didn't meet it," she said.
Rushenberg said last week the state will take over the annual adjustment of property tax assessments duties from Blumenberg's office, which repeatedly has failed to meet state or international assessing standards regarding the accuracy of tax valuations of vacant township land despite several attempts over the past three months.
Blumenberg responded in a letter to Rushenberg this week.
"You are aware my office operation is unaffected by your purposed actions," Blumenberg wrote. "My office continues to perform its assessment-related duties fully and admirably, despite being understaffed, grossly underpaid and constantly under attack due to my efforts to protect the interests of home owners and small businesses."
Blumenberg calls the state allegations "an unfortunate misrepresentation of the truth."
The dispute centers on the accuracy of Calumet Township's ratio study of Blumenberg's ability to accurately track recent private property sales and use them to update the past year's property values and the amount of taxes each property owner owes.
The state alleges Blumenberg has overvalued residential property and proposes an across-the-board 2 percent decrease in Gary and Griffith residential property values.
Blumenberg said any mistakes are the state's fault. He said the state forced Lake County to take the 2002 general reassessment away from local elected assessors and hire Cole, Layer and Trumble, of Ohio, a private assessment firm. Blumenberg said Cole, Layer and Trumble's work generated thousands of erroneous property values.
Blumenberg said the state also has given his staff bad advice on how to perform the ratio study it is demanding.
Michalak said, "The issues here is about money and the costly borrowing that has taken place in Lake County over the past several years as a result of late tax bills. Mr. Blumenberg has had every opportunity to get the job done correctly. If his work had been submitted sooner, there would be more time to allow him to complete what he started and do it correctly. We are now at a point where more time and money are luxuries the taxpayers of Lake County don't have."
