Property Taxes Due Wednesday, May 10^th

Hamilton County Tax Rate Remains Flat; Property Assessments Increase

The Hamilton County Treasurer will mail property taxes the first week of April. The Spring installments are due Wednesday, May 10. Fall property taxes will be due Monday, November 13.

 “The good news is the housing market is still strong,” says County Assessor Kevin Poore. “We’re seeing an average 15-percent increase over last year in terms of overall residential values. Unfortunately, for some that could mean an increase in property taxes.”

Property taxes are a primary source of funding for local government units, and include funding for counties, cities and towns, townships, libraries, schools, and special districts like solid waste. The Department of Local Government Finance, the state entity charged with approving the tax rates and levies, made an adjustment to its cost tables this year to better reflect the housing market and inflation.

“While demand and values are slowing in many parts of the country, they remain strong here in Hamilton County,” says Oscar Gutierrez, President of Bondry Consulting. “This is still a byproduct of the reduced home production felt after the housing crisis, historic low interest rates enjoyed until 2022, and the county having some of the highest incomes in the state.”

Indiana properties are valued using mass appraisal techniques. These techniques consider age, grade, and condition of a property, but they also use market value “trending” data to determine if the value of nearby properties should change to match the market value found in the recent sales of similar properties.

Fortunately, Hamilton County’s tax rate has remained at $0.2744 per one hundred dollars of net assessed value since the county reduced it two years ago. In fact, Hamilton County has the sixth lowest tax rate of all Indiana counties and the lowest tax rate of the largest 10 counties in terms of assessed value or population.

“That’s due in part to a strong tax base as well as conservative fiscal management,” says Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt. “The county has been very deliberate about structuring its debt and managing the tax rate to avoid increases.”

If you need specific assessment values for your property or wish to question existing assessed values for your property, please call the Hamilton County Assessor’s Office or find your satellite location here. https://www.hamiltoncounty.in.gov/952/Office-Locations

In the meantime, there are three ways all property owners can seek tax relief:

• Exemptions – a full or partial waiver of property tax liability for a given property. Exemptions are generally only available in limited circumstances, such as for not-for-profit organizations, religious groups, and economic development purposes.
• Deductions – a subtraction of assessed value for a property prior to the calculation of tax liability. Deductions are the most common types of property tax relief available to taxpayers and include relief for primary residences (homesteads), mortgaged property, veterans and disabled citizens, to name a few.
• Credits – a type of property tax relief applied directly to the tax liability after it is initially calculated. Common property tax credits include the circuit breaker credit and the local property tax replacement credit.