I just saw on the local news that our county commissioners passed a law that freezes property taxes for seniors (age 62). We have to apply directly to the county to get this. There does not appear to be any other qualifiers.

Pretty cool.

Quite a few years ago the local schools claimed they would have to "cut programs" and teachers "hadn't gotten raises in years" to pass a tax increase over the 1% Indiana cap. Of course they provided no data or real justifications, just fear mongering.

And I know they lied about the "no raises" because union contracts provide teachers with a raise for every year of teaching and every degree attained. What had not happened was an increase in the whole schedule of raises. Meaning across the board increases for every level of service and degree attainment.

The vote was in an off-year primary and passed.

Since COVID started, property values have gone up. Indianapolis suburbs have good cost of living so demand went up from "remote workers" looking to move out of high cost areas. Ever year I get re-assessed to "market value". Now I am paying quite a bit more than a few years ago, the schools are getting their cut, but they are not cutting rates.

I recently noticed they are basing my rates in more square footage than I have. They are counting my entire upstairs as living space, but it is basically an attic room with half walls and a pent roof. The property survey shows the correct square footage so apparently the assessor is padding the numbers. So now I need to dispute that and see how that goes. Would be nice to get back taxes refunded, but I double that will happen.

The area I live in has swung massively from conservative to liberal. Come hunting season people post about hearing major shootouts in the streets; no, that is Dove Season you moron. Our school district which gets more and more money every year; so much so they have to give extra money to other school districts. Now they are going to copy California and build an entire neighborhood for teachers to have free homes. Yeah everything in California works. I voted against the bond, but of course it passed overwhelmingly. The houses have yet to be built, but the city got the money. I am still blown away by the $20 million high school football stadium that was hidden in a school upgrade bond. Something like that should stand on its own. This massive college grade football stadium gets used every once in a while. When I was in middle school, we played on a normal field with a chain link fence around it. There weren’t even bleachers. This stuff is out of control. I don’t even have kids but I am paying for it. If the money went to actually bettering the kid’s education, then I would be okay with it but it isn’t.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:

I recently noticed they are basing my rates in more square footage than I have. They are counting my entire upstairs as living space, but it is basically an attic room with half walls and a pent roof. The property survey shows the correct square footage so apparently the assessor is padding the numbers. So now I need to dispute that and see how that goes. Would be nice to get back taxes refunded, but I double that will happen.

My area is getting so greedy they are now also increasing the value of the land every year. So we get a maximum allowed tax rate increase each year by the county, the city increases its taxes each year, the value of the house goes up astronomically each year, and the land value also increases each year. It all adds up to an insane property tax bill I can barely afford now.