Any increases in residential land values resulting from the limited reassessment ordered last week by the state will not be applied retroactively to tax bills unless a complaint is filed by a neighboring property owner, Porter County Assessor John Scott said.
Scott said he believes he is required by law to file retroactive increases when a complaint is filed.
But the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance disagrees with that opinion and has not order the assessor's office to make any changes to tax bills prior to the bills due later this year, DLGF communications specialist Amanda Stanley said Tuesday.
The DLGF ordered the county to do no more than review and assess undervalued or omitted properties for this year's tax bills, she said.
"It would be the decision of local officials to increase assessed values for prior years," Stanley said in a written statement.
Scott, who was returning Tuesday from the Shorewood Forest neighborhood, which is targeted by the state's reassessment order, said complaints could arise if one land owner discovers a neighbor's property has been under assessed.
The DLGF faulted the assessor's office last week for failing to distinguish between differing residential land values when assessing Shorewood Forest. This resulted in parcels of greater value, like those along the waterfront, being undervalued, the DLGF concluded.
The DLGF ordered the assessor to take another look at residential properties elsewhere in the county and update it figures by June 1.
The orders came as part of a review carried out by the DLGF in response to concerns raised by legislators, local officials and taxpayers.
Scott said outside of Shorewood Forest, his office plans to take another look at residential sites in Morgan and Boone townships. Other residential, commercial or industrial parcels also could be identified as the office continues to process the large number of assessment appeals filed by Monday's deadline.
Isolated assessment errors will be handled through the appeal process, which gets under way today, he said.
