Local leaders sound alarm on Braun’s property tax overhaul legislation

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30 thoughts on “Local leaders sound alarm on Braun’s property tax overhaul legislation

  1. Maybe if Mayor Finkam & Carmel cut back on roundabout art and repaving roads that are just fine, they wouldn’t have a problem with the cuts. Carmel had outsize tax increases with last year’s tax bills, yet we don’t see any increase in resident services.

    1. I can think of a few $$MM projects that didn’t need to happen in Fishers. They’ll be fine.

    2. Towns that have invested in infrastructure and schools are booming. They are where people want to live. Census numbers don’t lie. Put another way, that’s why Fishers is growing and Markle isn’t.

      But, sure, let’s have a senator from a dying part of Indiana make the decisions for the state.

    3. Yes! Make Carmel roads look just like Indy. That will attract new residents!!! (this is sarcasm)

    1. “Braun has repeatedly opined that government spending cannot outpace its constituents’ ability to pay for it. ”

      Constituents have been getting tax cuts for decades now. Constituents have seen their houses get a massive increase in value the last few years.

      The problem has never been the ability to pay for it.

  2. What are they doing with all this extra money they’re getting due to increased property assessments? After the recent articles talking about the number of rental properties in the state and them charging them twice as much property taxes with no deductions there should be plenty of money to go around for everybody.

    1. No Joe I don’t but the rate of assessment is going up much faster than the rate of inflation. Not to mention I’m paying much more than 1% of my assessed value due to all these referendums that keep being voted in.

    1. I hope this leads to schools fighting cities fighting library boards fighting townships and TIF takes all the flak.

    2. Camel is also loaded with long-term debt and heavy interest payments. They’re okay for now, but cuts to property taxes would be devastating for municipalities like Carmel, Fishers, Zionsville, etc. that are dependent on high -value, large-lot properties for their tax revenue (and these large lot properties come with HUGE infrastructure liabilities). A property tax cut could really screw the suburbs very quickly.

  3. Sen. Holdman hales from Markle, population 1,070 living in an area barely larger that the Mile Square in Indianapolis, and where the median price of a home is in the low $200s. There are no public elementary schools in Markle, but there are two public elementary schools within 5 miles of its city borders. Those schools are rated 28.14 (with 100 being the best).

    All this to say he lacks any experience with the bigger picture: the cost of roads and maintenance, public schools, and large police/fire/ambulance departments and equipment. In essence, he lives is a small, rural community that has been losing residents since 1990 when it was 1,2431 people. I seriously would doubt that property taxes have been rising (either at all or even significantly) during those 35 years.

    1. This, right here. Indianapolis is being micromanaged by people who step inside I-465 once or twice per year, sometimes only during the General Assembly. The complaints that Representatives get are from large land owners, like data centers and corporate megafarms.

  4. 1) The State should focus on itself, not micromanaging municipalities.

    2) This proposal is inflationary. With the kind of upward market pressure that we are experiencing, we should not be lowering property taxes.

    3) Indiana municipalities need MORE flexibility in their revenue streams, not less. If the State really wants to cut back, then they should drop a penny from the State Sales Tax and allow localities to pick it up for discretionary funding.

  5. My property tax bill nearly doubled in 4 years. I do think we need property tax reform but is largely because they reassess to market value each year. It would make much more sense to use the 3 or 5 years average value to do the assessment that way it smooths it out.

    1. What has the value of your home done the last four years, and have you appealed your assessment? If the value of your house doubled, sorry, not sure you have a valid complaint.

      The services funded by property taxes have faced the same inflationary pressures. All Republicans are doing is slashing government and making it someone else’s problem.

      And they’ll brag about it on their campaign flyers that taxpayers pay for. They take us for suckers.

    2. The question for you, was your assessment wrong four years ago or wrong now? If the assessment is not correct now, then you have a opportunity to appeal. If it was wrong 4 years ago then count yourself lucky that you get a deal for all of those prior years.

      If the value of your house really has doubled in 4 years then count yourself lucky with the accumulated wealth you have accrued.

  6. Republican philosophy: Reduce property taxes which leads to fewer/poorer services & maintenance which leads to increased complaints about poor services & maintenance which leads to increased complaints about excessive and ineffective use of tax dollars which leads to increased demands to reduce taxes which leads to fewer/poorer services & maintenance, etc., etc., etc. My dog exhibits more intelligence chasing his tail.

  7. YEP! You get what you pay for.

    I live in Marion county, and the only reason we’ve seen any real infrastructure improvements is because of Federal dollars. All of that money has instantly dried up with the chaos monkeys in charge in Washington now.

    I suspect that projects that already have dollars allocated are screeching to a halt right now and to add insult to injury, the state wants to cut back on the insufficient, but reliable property tax stream.

  8. How about people over 60 years old in Indiana don’t pay school taxes? They get no benefit from fancy schools. Fancy buildings don’t equate to better educated children…

    1. I have to assume the first statement is sarcasm?

      And yes there is some truth to that fancy buildings don’t equal better education, but if you mean “fancy”, by buildings with AC (now that school runs from August to Mis-May), I don’t see your point.

      More money for teachers and education in general, at all levels would gradually improve the states economy. Ohio has proved this by outspending Idiana by upwards of $10billion in recent years.

      Welcom to Indiana, on a race to the bottom.

    2. Clark, when you were going through 13 years of public education (or less), you benefitted from “school taxes” that other people without kids paid. Your parents didn’t pay enough to cover your own education, much less any siblings.

      You still benefit from having good schools where you live, because it reinforces the value of your real estate.

      It’s called “the social contract”.

    3. Top 5 dumbest comment ever on the IBJ.

      Sounds like Clark never benefitted from school.

      As long as we can get rid of social security tax since we aren’t using it while we’re working – I’d gladly let the elderly not pay property taxes

  9. You can bash Mayors all you want but they are correct. The technical reasons for the crunch on cities is far more complex. There is a complete disconnect between the state and the cities. You really think that a drop in taxes on a $500k house from $4250 to $2000 will result in NO loss of police or fire services?

    Look at the schools before you look at local government. They suck up 60+% of the tax revenue and 50% kids cannot read at grade level. I live in Lawrence twp. Not sure we needed a $200 million bond issue for nicer entrances to the schools when academic performance has not increases.

    1. Did you not see the recent stories about Indiana’s statewide performance on reading tests going up dramatically?

  10. State and town/city reliance on the built in property tax ‘cash cow’ mentality needs to change!
    Seeing the mayors of Carmel, Fishers and new casino Terre Haute complain is laughable. While Terre Haute does have legitimate long term shortfall issues, the other 2 are the classic abusers of the ‘built-in’ revenue source to the detriment of every property owner. Remarkably, Indiana’s ‘tax pie’ is 50% ‘education’. Today’s schools are more like Royal Palaces. Considering many households have seen their kids grow up and leave or that many don’t have children makes this almost a ‘bogus’ source of income in the first place. As many have already pointed out, if a city decides it ‘needs’ $300,000 sculptures for their roundabouts, arenas and other ‘improvements’ they should be funded by other than already overburdened property owners. Entertainment; Wheel; Local Sales and other taxes……oh but wait, if they promoted those ideas they wouldn’t get elected. The answer. Trim your budgets like most families. Live reasonably within your means.

    1. Brad, you didn’t cover the whole cost of your kids’ education when they were at home. Look at the “per student” expenditure in Indiana vs. your property taxes…unless you live in a house with a $1 million net assessment, you probably don’t even cover one child’s worth of education.

  11. Kudos to my Mayor. I’ve been critical of Sue but she is right on the money on this one.

    Strange that its supposed to be Democrats who defund the police, but it may well be Republicans who enact policies that defund police departments across the state.

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