The Bartholomew County Courthouse towers behind The Commons on Jan. 24, 2017, in Columbus.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Mike Wolanin | The Republic The exterior of The Commons with the Bartholomew County Courthouse pictured in the background in downtown Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017.
While Bartholomew County property tax rates from 2021 (payable 2022) are significantly lower than a year earlier, that likely won’t mean more money in more pockets.
The countywide 0.4252 cent tax rate is down substantially from the 0.4509 rate used to help calculate property tax bills last year. In fact, a comparison shows the county’s tax rate has only been lower one year — 2016 (payable 2017) — over the past 11 years.
“This is a pretty dramatic decrease,” Bartholomew County Auditor Pia O’Connor said.
But for many property owners, lower property tax rates won’t mean lower tax installments in May and November, county assessor Ginny Whipple said.
The most significant influence on this year’s tax rates was the 19% increase in the average sale price of a Bartholomew County home in just one year, from 2020 to 2021, Whipple said.
“These tax rates reflect the fact that most property assessed value increased from 2020 to 2021,” Whipple said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean lower taxes. It means their bill won’t be as high as it would have been had their tax rate stayed the same.”
While there is a county tax rate, there are also different rates for 27 townships, communities and annexed areas throughout the county. Only Clifty Township, Hawcreek Township, Ohio Township and an annexed section of Edinburgh experienced an increase in their tax rate, according to figures distributed by the county auditor’s office.
“Figuring out a tax rate is simple math,” O’Connor said. “It’s the total revenue amount divided by the assessed value.”
To get a grasp on the amount of property taxes owed this year, the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) recommends starting with a form that property owners should have received late last spring.
“Form 11: Notice of Assessment of Land and Improvements” shows changes in assessed values on property when there is new construction, additions, remodeling or changes in land use.
Property taxes are basically “tax rate” times “assessed value” divided by 100, Whipple said. But Hoosiers are entitled to a cap on the amount of property taxes over 1% for the gross assessed value for homestead properties, 2% for other residential and agricultural land, and 3% for other real and personal property.
O’Connor said her staff is now in the process of evaluating the math to get a complete understanding of why tax rates dropped, as well as run some comparisons regarding the impact on property owners. That information should be available for discussion by the Bartholomew County Council when it has a special work session tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. The council’s regular monthly meeting will be held exactly one week later on Feb. 8.
Besides property tax analysis, the council is also expected to discuss the long-awaited results of a salary study next month, O’Connor said.
Last May, Muncie-based Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele &Associates — a firm that advises city and county governments on administrative matters — was hired by the county council for $25,000 to conduct a salary study of the job classifications listed in their budget. The anticipated analysis has been determined by finding out salaries paid to those doing comparable work in counties similar in size to Bartholomew.
Over the past several months, the council has postponed making decisions on a number of salary increase requests until this study is completed.
