In Jeffersonville, we will be asked to vote on the Public Question - SHOULD THE ASSESSING DUTIES OF THE JEFFERSONVILLE TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR BE TRANSFERRED TO THE COUNTY ASSESSOR?
Does anyone have an opinion on this issue?

Glad you asked that question because I am sort of at a loss as to how to vote. I'm leaning toward a NO vote, but I'm wondering if my thoughts are influenced only by the fact tht I happen to like Vicki Colin and would hate to see her lose her job. According to her Letter to the Editor in tonight's Evening News this measure would not be a cost saving one so I'm not sure I see the point in voting yes. Seems to me the county assessors have enough on their plate as it is.

So count me in with Details Matter. I'd like to hear other's opinions on this as well.

The following letter appeared in the Courier:

"Should the way property was assessed in 1816 still apply to the way property is assessed in 2008? One Southern Indiana and its leadership think not. We think now is the time for change. No one wants to pay taxes. But when the proceeds are going for valuable services and the taxation method is fair, Hoosiers are willing to pay their fair share.

Unfortunately, "fair share" has been an elusive concept for property taxpayers in Indiana. Because of an antiquated and bureaucratic method of assessing property, Hoosiers with very similar homes have found that their property values differ drastically, resulting in wildly disparate tax bills. Maybe it has happened to you.

This occurred because, until recently, 1,008 elected township assessors could have used 1,008 different methods to assess property. Some lacked training and had no relevant professional background that would qualify them to assess property. Some were very knowledgeable of their position.

Late last year, a bipartisan commission headed by former Gov. Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall Shepard of the Indiana Supreme Court made 27 recommendations to streamline local government in Indiana, including moving property-assessing duties from the townships to the county assessor. In a recent membership survey, an overwhelming majority of respondents voiced their support of the commissions' recommendations.

The 2008 General Assembly, on a bipartisan vote in each chamber, wisely changed the property-assessment system by shifting assessing duties to the county in 965 of the 1,008 townships. But lawmakers left it to the residents of the state's 43 largest townships, including Jeffersonville Township in Clark County and New Albany Township in Floyd County, to decide if they would follow suit. The question will be on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The idea behind the Kernan-Shepard recommendation is that a single elected official, the county assessor, would be responsible for ensuring that all property assessments in a county were conducted uniformly, resulting in fair taxation. Already, county assessors across the state have assumed assessing duties for the 965 townships. It's up to them to manage the process and the budget, including deciding if they will hire former township assessors, as some have, or contract with professionally trained individuals who work for private concerns. The result must be professional, uniform and fair assessments. If a county assessor doesn't get that result, he or she can fire employees or contractors who fail to perform. And if you, the taxpayer, do not get that result, you can "fire" the county assessor at the next election.

Clearly, this is not a partisan issue; there is neither a Democratic way nor a Republican way to assess property. Nor is this a big-business issue. We at One Southern Indiana support the shift, and this issue also enjoys the support of the Professional Fire Fighters Union of Indiana, the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (an economic-development organization), the Indiana Association of REALTORSÆ, chambers of commerce in Evansville, Terre Haute and Fort Wayne and an enormous number of grass-roots supporters across the state. Our shared goals are fair taxation and efficient government.

You'll likely hear criticism of this proposal. Some will say it will increase costs, but this is a matter of shifting duties, and the tax dollars that pay for them, to the county – with no attendant increase. Others say that this makes government less close to the people. But you'll still be electing the county assessor, who must answer to you every four years. And some say that this is an attack on individual township assessors. But this has nothing to do with personalities or individuals who are currently serving as a township assessor; the issue here is fairness and uniformity.

On behalf of our leadership and the over 1,200 members employing nearly 44,000 employees, I strongly urge you to go to the bottom of your ballot and vote "yes" on the question about township assessors. It's a vote for fair taxation. It is not a vote "against" any one individual but a vote for efficient government.

MICHAEL DALBY

President

One Southern Indiana

New Albany, Ind. 47150

Suspence had a letter in the EN I agree with. Here's a cut and paste:
________________________________________________

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels would like to see most every elected county office be eliminated. He would prefer that we elect just one county “Czar” that appoints our sheriff, assessor, treasurer, etc. Can you picture how corrupt this could be?

Well the first step toward this radical restructuring of local government is already under way — the elimination of township assessors.

Thus, on Nov. 4, voters in Jeffersonville and Clarksville will have an additional important choice before us: Do we wish to keep our Township Assessor Vicki Conlin?

Because Jeffersonville Township has 25,000-plus properties, we get to decide whether or not to keep property tax assessment a local function or to outsource and privatize.

Here’s a surprising fact: The County Assessor’s Office doesn’t do property tax assessments. They have always just processed the assessments of the various township assessors.

Here’s how it was: Clark County is divided into 12 townships and each had its own assessor. House Bill 1001 eliminated every township assessor with less than 15,000 parcels. In Clark County, that left only the Jeffersonville township assessor — one of 44 left in the state of Indiana.

So through no fault of her own, how does County Assessor Vicky Kent Haire deal with this massive new workload? How can her office absorb the property tax assessment abilities of the 11 former township assessors?

We privatize, of course! On May 29, 2008, the County Commissioners contracted with the Nexus Group to perform property tax assessments, trending and reassessments for the rest of Clark County, at the bargain price of only $29.50 per residential property and $45.50 per industrial/commercial property.

I’ll leave the calculating of $29.50/$45.50 times 25,000 Jeffersonville and Clarksville properties to better mathematical minds. Doesn’t appear to be very economical replacement of the five-person Jeffersonville Township Assessor office does it?

It should be very telling to the voter that the treasurer for the “Keep Your Local Government” committee is our County Assessor Vicky Kent Haire. It would seem to show that the elimination of the JTA is a really bad idea. When we elected Vicki Conlin to the Jeffersonville Township Assessor office, it was for a four-year term. Indianapolis is attempting to nullify our vote.

Ask yourself this question: If you have a question about your assessment, do you want to call a friend/ neighbor/ local in Vicki Conlin’s office — or — call some 1-800 number to who knows where?

Thanks, but no thanks, Indianapolis: We’ll keep local government local. Vote no on this referendum.

— Derek Spence, Jeffersonville

_________________________________________________

I'm voting "NO" on this. I want to keep things the way they are.

If the Gov. and others wanted to save money they should have let us voted to do away with ALL property tax and increase the sales tax. Until this is on the ballot for us to decide I say leave the system alone.

Thanks for the information. Right now I am leaning towards voting no after reading some of the points made by Derek Spence. Sorry, Not Super But Honest Mike, I cannot agree with you on increasing the sales tax to make up for the property tax. They would have to raise the sales tax quite a bit and it could put the burden on young families with several children. In addition many people might choose to buy more things out of state to avoid such a high sales tax and that could hurt local businesses. I might consider using a progressive income tax to make up for the property tax but not a large sales tax.

As a resident who was "officially annexed" on January 1st, I'm now a resident of Jeffersonville...

Soo...why wasn't this question on my ballot?

Anybody?

I'm all for streamlining government. Could this be the first step in eliminating property taxes completely? I would be interested in how these assessed values are determined. They seem very subjective at best. How they can come to a realistic value by merely looking at the outside of a location is beyond me. By increasing sales tax the burden is carried by all consumers, not just property owners. As a result numerous positions could be eliminated as well as budgets reducing local governments size and control.

Several years ago developers built two small subdivisions close to my home. These new homes are much larger than mine and most in the area. Several of them over a million. Two things happened - Our quality of life went down and taxes went up. Not fair taxation in my mind. Instead of manipulating values to fund their budget items they would be required to live within their means.

quote:

Originally posted by Supermike:
Anybody?

I'll take a wild guess....are you in Utica township? I know Bethany Farms is in Utica Township. I'm not sure how the township lines are plotted.

quote:

Originally posted by NOT SUPER BUT HONEST MIKE:
I'll take a wild guess....are you in Utica township?

Ding ding ding! You are correct! Tell the man what he's won!

I didn't realize the question would only be posed to the Jeff township.

quote:

Originally posted by Supermike:
Anybody?

Supermike,

If you remember back to the many, many annexation articles, they noted 'new' city residents would not be able to vote in municipal elections until 2011. I know this isn't a municipal election, but I wonder if this provision has something to do with the township assessor issue.

Or could it be that 'new' parts of Jeffersonville (city) aren't in the Township. I'm not sure ...

Here's the township map. Can you pick out your house ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Map_highlighting_Jef..._County,_Indiana.svg

LOL! I'm not sure where I am on that map, but I am in Utica Township. I thought, perhaps mistakenly, that the question was statewide. Does Utica township no longer have an assessor? Perhaps you are right about the muni election deal. Such is the life and times of an annexee...

quote:

Originally posted by Supermike:
LOL! I'm not sure where I am on that map, but I am in Utica Township. I thought, perhaps mistakenly, that the question was statewide. Does Utica township no longer have an assessor? Perhaps you are right about the muni election deal. Such is the life and times of an annexee...

Supermike,

Nope, the Utica Township assessor, along with most in the state were already eliminated. The only two left in Clark and Floyd are Jeffersonville Township, which includes Clarksville and Oak Park; and then New Albany. Only townships with a certain number of parcels were retained. Most have been eliminated and folks didn't even know.

This published about 10 days ago.

http://www.newsandtribune.com/archivesearch/local_story_299004053.html

Best, Shea.

Ah... I see, said the blind man. Thanks for the info! I read that article, so I'm not sure what I had in my head. All is well.