Nearly a dozen residents of the Highland Ridge subdivision south of Petersville have filed a petition with the Bartholomew County Clerk’s office challenging the residency of Bartholomew County Council President Matt Miller.
In filing for re-election, Miller, a first-term at-large Republican seeking re-election this year, listed his permanent residency as 1331 N. 500E, Columbus, near the entrance of Highland Ridge.
The challenge, filed July 6 with Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps and signed by 11 Highland Ridge residents, alleges that Miller and his wife, Lisa, actually live southwest of Vernon in Jennings County. If the residents’ allegation is true, it would make Miller ineligible to serve on the Bartholomew County Council.
“To be clear, no one has stayed at this (Highland Ridge) property for any length of time that would qualify as a principal place of residence, especially Matt Miller,” the submitted letter states.
“The allegations are not true,” Miller said in response. “I’ve lived in Bartholomew County my entire life, except for when I attended Purdue University.”
The house that Matt Miller lists as his permanent residence became vacant in 2014 when one of his family members died. After the property was placed in a revocable living trust, Miller’s aunt, Amber E. Owens, was first listed as an owner. Miller’s mother, Tamara A. Miller, was later named a co-owner in an arrangement described as “joint tenancy with rights of survivorship.”
Since most Highland Ridge neighbors understood property ownership was unsettled for years, they didn’t complain when regular lawn and landscape maintenance wasn’t kept up on the property, neighborhood resident Jessica Smith said.
Three years after the house became vacant, Matthew Miller sold his former home off County Road 1100E near Hartsville, online records state. With the profit he made from the sale, Miller purchased 80 acres off Jennings County Road 300S, near the Muscatatuck River and the Crosley Fish and Wildlife Area, he said.
Miller said the Jennings County property was never intended to be his permanent residence. Miller said he decided to rent out the family-owned house in Highland Ridge for his official residence with the stipulation that he is not responsible for upkeep, and that the landlords (his relatives) would hire someone to do the work.
Tamara Miller, who has worked with Developmental Services Inc., asked if she could hire a DSI client who was seeking yard work jobs, Matt Miller said. A DSI client was hired without Matt Miller’s knowledge as a yard maintenance man for the rental property, he said.
Welfare concern
About a month ago, a group of Highland Ridge neighbors became concerned for the welfare of the yard maintenance man, so a few came over to assist him, Smith said. At that time, most Highland Ridge residents {span}assumed Matt Miller owned the property, and was responsible for hiring the man for the property’s upkeep, Smith said.{/span}
During discussions, the maintenance man told the neighbors he had to buy his own $150 lawn mower to do the work, was provided no access to water while working six- to eight-hour days, and was being paid $50 a day, Smith said.
“That’s what this is all about,” Smith said. “We don’t have anything against Matt. What we really cared about is that we believed he — or someone — was taking advantage of somebody with disabilities.”
Matt Miller said he had no responsibility for property upkeep or who is hired to do the work.
He said {span}has a real estate investment business that includes at least three residential or commercial properties in Bartholomew County, other assets within Indiana, and properties that he’s developing in four states.{/span}
{span}He said he also works full-time at his business, Raft To Rafters Pool and Spa, Inc., fulfills his obligations and assignments on the Bartholomew County Council and works as a paid part-time deputy with the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department.{/span}
{span}”I’m working over 80 hours a week,” Miller said.{/span}
{span}If the neighbors had asked him from the start, Miller says he would have explained. But after “one guy called me up and cussed me out, I haven’t wanted to talk about it, Miller said. “I’m a very private person, and I don’t like other people knowing my business.”{/span}
{span}Aggravating the situation was an unpleasant exchange of words between some neighbors and Miller’s father outside the Highland Ridge home, Smith said.{/span}
{span}In regard to the Jennings County property, Miller said the parcel contains tillable land to grow cash crops, as well as a hunting lodge that he sometimes leases out to hunters. {/span}
{span}While he and his wife, Lisa, occasionally use the lodge for a weekend getaway, Miller insists it is not his primary residence. After the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, the developer said he plans to renovate the cabin into an {span}Airbnb{/span} that would also be {span}suitable for hosting corporate retreats. {/span}{/span}
Proving residency
{span}Documents obtained by The Republic show Miller’s driver’s license, emergency information card with the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, 2020 candidacy form and employment eligibility form with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security all contain the Highland Ridge property as his residence.{/span}
{span}Speaking from Florida while on a business trip, Miller said he will be willing to show the Bartholomew County address appears on his tax returns, W2 forms and bills for utilities, internet and cable television service if required. {/span}
{span}But Jackson said at least one neighbor has seen Miller moving items into the house at night. She claims the councilman has been working to move possessions back into the Bartholomew County home ever since the residency challenge was filed on July 6.{/span}
{span}Jennings County tax records that show a standard homestead tax deduction of $45,000 was taken in both 2017 and 2018 on Miller’s property. A spokeswoman for the Jennings County Auditor’s office said Miller would have received both those deductions “unless something else has been worked out.” {/span}
{span}{span}Under Indiana law, homestead property tax deductions can only be claimed for an individual’s principal place of residence. {/span}{/span}
{span}But Miller, who said he didn’t take possession of the property until October 17, 2017, says he never filed for the property tax deduction. Rather, the previous tenant had taken the deduction for all of 2017, and the homestead credit was not removed from property tax records for about six months after Miller took possession of the property. {/span}
{span}{span}”I may have been riding on (the previous homeowner’s) homestead deduction on a little while,” Miller said. “But I have never filed for that deduction.”{/span}{/span}
After receiving the letter, Phelps said he reached out to the Election Division of the Indiana Secretary of State’s office to inquire on the proper way to handle the matter. Since the primary is already over, Phelps said he was told the challenge is likely to become more of a court-related issue, rather than a matter handled by a local election board.
{span} {/span}
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”What are the rules” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Indiana law requires many candidates, but not all, seeking state and local office to have resided in their election district for at least one year prior to the general election.
“Residence” means the place where a person has the person’s true, fixed, permanent home and principal establishment, and to which place the person has, whenever absent, the intent of returning.
A county election board or Indiana Election Commission, depending on the office sought, will have to determine the facts of each particular situation to resolve a challenge regarding any candidate’s residence. They will need to determine the actual facts in each residency dispute and decide what, if anything, the candidate did to establish the candidate’s residence, if it is called into question.
Source: Indiana Candidate Guide
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Before the Indiana Election Commission or a county election board may consider a challenge to a candidate, a registered voter of the election district that the candidate seeks to represent — or a county chairman of a major political party of a county in which any part of the election district is located — must file a sworn statement with the Election Division or the county election board.
The sworn statement must question the eligibility of the candidate to seek the office and set forth the facts known to the voter concerning this question. The CAN-1 form may be used for a candidate challenge.
Source: Indiana Candidate Guide
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