Homeowners Line Up To Appeal Property Tax Catch-Up Bills

Township Assessors Report Increase In Property Tax Appeals

POSTED: 4:23 pm EDT July 7, 2008

UPDATED: 7:40 pm EDT July 7, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS -- The appeals process is now underway for Indiana homeowners left questioning the latest property tax reassessment.

Last week, property owners received catch-up bills, after Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered a special reassessment last summer.

Analysis: Capitol WatchBlog

Monday, township assessors in Marion County were flooded with appeals requests, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

"It's impossible to keep up with them," said Lawrence Township Assessor Jeffrey Hill, who said he has 1,200 pending appeals. "You just can't look at an appeal and solve it in 30 seconds. Some of them take quite a bit of time to look at the market data."

Many homeowners stood in line Monday to begin the appeals process.

"My land value has been $22,000 all these years, and now it's jumped to almost $86,000," Lawrence Township homeowner Elsie Lytle said.

To appeal an assessment, homeowners need to gather objective market data, Hill said. That includes any past appraisals, or research into what similar houses in the neighborhood have sold for.