The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

How About Those Taxes?
Are taxes really caused by our tax assessments?

by Dessa Rodeffer
Quill Editor/Publisher

12 January 2000

Well, everyone does expect to get a slight raise in their taxes from year to year to keep up with the cost of living.

But in Henderson County, many home owners have been complaining that their taxes have been going up substantially the last several years, and they feel it is the result of their increases in their assessments.

One resident said he built a home a few years ago and his taxes had gone up by a sizeable amount each year.

He said he could understand it if he had made some improvements, maybe, but he hadn't done a thing to this property which is situated next to a trailer.

Another lady in the Terre Haute area, who's home was destroyed by a tornado, said since she rebuilt a new home, her taxes had tripled over the last three years.

These people are pretty unhappy about the county's reassessment project which could result in yet, more increased taxes, and understandably so.

The county has purchased new computer software which includes a consultant to help train assessors in gathering and inputting proper assessment data.

This is to simplify procedures and to make it possible to obtain more accurate assessment figures of properties.

The big job, of course, is to gather up-to-date data on each property and to enter it into the computer.

This is what will make a more accurate and equal assessment of each home so each can pay their fair share of the tax burden.

Although changes in assessments can cause your taxes to raise or lower, they do not cause the initial tax.

Taxes come from the various taxing bodies who's budgets are approved by the county board as well as budgets from the various offices of county government. It also comes from the budgets of libraries, jr. colleges, and schools and many of these are approved through hearings or by votes from us.

Two recent examples of tax levy increases are from Union and Southern school.

An announcement was made in The Quill of these hearings yet not one person came to the hearing to object or ask questions at Southern school.

Assessing a market value to a property does not create taxes, although this is the bench mark which state law requires us to use to establish a means of collecting tax from property owners.

I know Republican candidate for Congress, Dr. Hal Bayne of Taylorville, feels the property tax is an unfair tax for funding our schools and that a sales tax would be a better and more fair tax for everyone.

I am not quite sure how this would work, but I know it could relieve a lot of pressure off of the property or land owners. Taxes that go for our schools is a big part of the taxes on the county tax bill that each home owner is required to pay.

Townships, libraries, ambulances, cemeteries, park districts, fire districts, and Jr. Colleges are some of the other expenses we pay besides the funding of county government. Some monies are generated by county agencies themselves which help support it, such as fees for their services and fines and costs.

Taxes are a way of life in America, and those who have worked hard to gain better schools, cemeteries, fire districts, libraries, ambulances, jr. colleges, health departments, and police protection can see the value in paying for these improvements to our society.

But to have our taxes triple in three years would be scary to any of us. And it is bothersome to the point that one man said to me, that it was time to dump some tea in protest.

According to Mr. Dave Siefkas, Vice President of Vanguard Appraisals in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, his firm recently did a reassessment of Burlington, Iowa with residents having the same concern. After all was said and done, he said there was only 5 appeals made objecting to their assessments.

Another instance, he said, was his first job as a young assessor in Marshaltown, Iowa. Assessments hadn't been taken care of and he raised everyone up to market value in his first term of office, a 45% increase. The residents did have a dumping of the tea ceremony on his behalf, the tea landing on the governor of Iowa's desk.

He learned that correcting a 17 or 19 year error would have been more acceptable if done in small increments over several years, but he was young and green, he said.

An assessor and county board in the Quad Cities hire his firm's services every five years to do a county-wide reassessment in Bettendorf, he said. The assessor there is very well liked, increases are small, and residents have come to expect the procedure as part of the process.

Perhaps the Henderson County board and Assessor Nancy Brokaw are learning some things along the way, too.

Hopefully, they are trying to find a fairer way to equalize all residents' tax burden by hiring an outside young appraiser.

Stephen Archambo, from Roseville, is known for his prompt and thorough inspections of properties and his detailed reports with pictures in his appraisals.

He does much work for financial institutions and private individuals who hire him for his services.

Recently, I used his appraisal services and found this to be true.

At last Thursday evening's public hearing on Henderson County's reassessment procedures, people's concerns were voiced for over 2 1/2 hours.

It is hoped that when all is said and done with this reassessment issue, that each of us can again pay our share of the taxes with a sense of pride,and a feeling that everyone is paying their fair share.

It's like living in a home, where everyone shares in the benefits, but not everyone wants to help pay for them.