Property Tax Bills Significantly Increased in Marion County
INDIANAPOLIS — It’s a legal process that may sound uninteresting, but it’s actually causing property taxes in Marion County to explode.
It’s called the yearly property reassessment: it’s a process the Marion County Assessor’s Office is legally required to complete. The assessor’s office examines a quarter of the county, considers the home sale prices and number of new construction permits issued, and adjusts your property bills.
This year, it’s the Fountain Square area, where lawyer Esperanza Alonzo has lived for ten years.
Alonzo showed her recent property tax bill to WISH-TV. It caught her by surprise to say the least.
“I used to pay about less than $1,000 a year and now I’m paying more, almost $3,000 for one of the properties,” Alonzo tells WISH-TV.
She called the assessor’s office to find out why she had such a dramatic increase. She wasn’t satisfied with the answer.
“The only explanation is basically they can do it, and they say that they were kind of of behind on taxes,” Alonzo continues, “so I told them that because you were slipping on it, we have to pay for it. They just say that property values have gone up.”
Alonzo tells WISH-TV the assessed value of her house jumped from $80,000 last year to around $220,000 this year. She knew the the increase was coming, but she didn’t expect such an increase.
“Not like this,” she explains, “we knew progressively it was going to go up, but not just like that and especially at that percentage. We see that they are tearing down properties and building new, that makes sense.”
Esperanza Alonzo isn’t the only one feeling the impact of the property tax increase.
Wayne Walker is retired and has lived in the Old Southside neighborhood for decades. His bill increases are very similar to Alonzo’s, in that Walker’s bills have tripled since last year and the assessed value of his house has doubled. But what bothers Walker the most is the impact this increase will have on people who can’t afford their tax bills.
He tells WISH-TV, “I don’t feel like I’m getting my money’s worth out of our politicians. I don’t think they stop to consider how this would impact people, especially in this neighborhood. This is not an affluent neighborhood; lot of people are on fixed incomes.”
The assessor’s office tells WISH-TV that not all reassessments are perfect. Property owners can file appeals with the assessor’s office if they choose.
