Assessor encourages Tippecanoe County residents to consider appealing tax assessments

LAFAYETTE, Ind.— After Tippecanoe County Assessor Eric Grossman held a meeting in February explaining the potential implications of new assessing laws that went into effect at the beginning of 2024, Grossman is now encouraging property owners to appeal their property tax assessments.

Indiana's Notice of Assessment and Land Improvements, otherwise known as Form 11, will make their way to property owner's mailboxes before May 1, opening a 45 day time window for appeals. While that annual event is nothing new, Grossman said what is new will be Form 11A, which is dedicated to apartment assessments of five units or more.

What is also new, Grossman explained, is the Tippecanoe County appeals process available online , where equity appeals will also be available alongside evaluation appeals.

"Equity appeals are nothing new — there have been hundreds of equity appeals in the last 20 years since the St. John was enacted, but this year we feel that there is more validity to equity appeals than there has been in past years," Grossman said.

Indiana property assessment is supposed to be based on the estimated market value of the property. But the current new law blocks the use of trending, which adjusts assessment values based on the recent sale prices of similar property.

Most property types — residential, business — have their property taxes based on assessments using both cost tables, which are adjusted up or down based on property sale prices of similar properties. This brings a property's assessed value to market value.

But now apartment buildings are not assessed on market value, which might violate a 1990-era Indiana Supreme Court ruling.

When a system is created that violates Article 10 of the state constitution , which states the General Assembly shall provide, by law, for a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation, Grossman said he believes there is disparity between the laws and the constitution.

"It's never perfect, and it's definitely an imperfect system, but this is the first year we really felt that we had too many legislative barriers to create equity," Grossman said. "It wasn't possible to create equity and follow the laws, and that's one of the reasons why we thought we would make it clear to the public."

When the Indiana Supreme Court deemed the former assessment system as unconstitutional in 1998, Grossman said that was due in part to roughly 70 litigants that sued the Indiana State Board of Tax Commissioners. Grossman said this is the best way to effect change at the state tax board — through the public articulating their cases against equity problems.

By encouraging Tippecanoe County residents to appeal their tax assessments, Grossman explained there is a chance this could enact litigation like that of the Town of St. John v. State Board of Tax Commissioners.

"Because some of this has been litigated that it's not so much of starting over — we're not so much making claims from scratch, but we're saying the same conditions exist now that did then, which I am hoping will be slightly simplified," Grossman said.

Grossman said his office can functionally handle an unlimited amount of assessment appeal, but it could take one solid case to effectively "clog the pipe" that would enact change.

"As much as our goal is not to create headaches for the institutions that we have a lot of respect for, including the Indiana Tax Board, or to create extraneous, unnecessary filings for them, people can't protect their rights unless they file the appeal," Grossman said. "No actions from the people that file are going to benefit those who don't for the years they do file, not to say they can't get a better policy for everybody moving forward."

The Tippecanoe County Assessors Office will host three community outreach meetings to walk property owners through the process of filing an appeal:

• Monday, May 6 at 6 p.m. in the Harrison High School auditorium, located at 5701 N 50 W in West Lafayette.
• Wednesday, May 8 at 6 p.m. in the McCutcheon High School auditorium, located at 4951 US-231 in Lafayette.
• Tuesday, May 21 at 6 p.m. in the West Lafayette Jr./Sr. High School LGI Room, located at 1838 N Salisbury St. in West Lafayette.

Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached by email at jellison@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ellison_writes.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Assessor encourages Tippecanoe County residents to consider appealing tax assessments