Speaker: Don't blame lawmakers

INDIANAPOLIS -- A government research organization widely respected at the Statehouse will conduct an independent study to gauge the accuracy and impact of the unfolding, statewide property tax reassessment.\nGov. Frank O'Bannon also announced Tuesday that a steering committee of government leaders and private groups will oversee the study by the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute.\nThe study cannot be completed until all counties have sent bills reflecting court-ordered changes in the assessment system. That likely will not occur until next year, but the policy institute plans to issue an interim report lawmakers can consider at the start of next January's legislative session.\nThe study will look at tax-burden shifts caused by the new system, determine accuracy of assessments and analyze the effects local levy increases had on tax bills, among other things.\nOn the legislative front Tuesday, House Speaker Patrick Bauer blamed state Supreme Court justices, local officials and O'Bannon's administration for tax hits and other controversies caused by the reassessment.\nAn agitated Bauer, standing before reporters in his Statehouse office, said legislators were not to blame and were not getting credit for having taken steps to soften the property tax blow on homeowners.\n"The legislative branch is not involved in this reassessment in the sense that we didn't create it," said Bauer, D-South Bend. "It's the judicial branch, and this interpretation was done by the executive branch. We can't carry all these troubles on our shoulders."\nOnly about a dozen of 92 counties have sent out new bills that reflect court-ordered changes in assessments. Most counties are expected to send them by November or December, but some could be delayed until next year.\nBecause of the reassessment and large increases in local spending in Marion County, the average residential bill there went up 17.4 percent. But some homeowners, especially those in older, more expensive homes in desirable neighborhoods, have seen bills double or triple.\nThe downtown historical district in Evansville also was hit hard, and many lawmakers fear similar fates for some of their constituents.\nThe state Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that Indiana's assessment practices were unconstitutional because they were not based on objective, verifiable data. The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit that said Indiana's largely subjective system allowed huge fluctuations in assessments, even among similar properties.\nTo bring the system into compliance, the O'Bannon administration moved toward assessments based largely on market values, or sales prices. He and lawmakers knew it would shift tax burdens from businesses to homes and result in big tax increases for many homeowners.\nTo help offset that, lawmakers raised sales taxes by a penny last year and dedicated the $800 million in new revenue toward property tax relief for homeowners.\nBauer said that has escaped much of the public, in part because county officials are not providing taxpayers with statutorily required notices saying what they would have paid had lawmakers done nothing.\nHe also said deadlines imposed by law and the courts routinely have been ignored, and said some local taxing units have made things worse by raising levies too high.\nBauer did not say that earlier this year the administration corrected a 17-year mistake in the way homestead credits were applied. Lawmakers knew the fix would cost homeowners $280 million in tax relief over two years, but they wanted the money for the state budget, so they let it stand.\nWhen asked about that again Tuesday, Bauer said, "You don't codify a mistake."\nHe said the Supreme Court ruling did not address the "massive shift in taxpayer responsibility" and suggested justices step in to monitor the unfolding events. He said if they did not, then lawmakers should consider making their appointments elected instead of appointed positions.\nDave Remondini, counsel for Chief Justice Randall Shepard, said the high court felt it had done its duty. But, he said, "If someone wants us to take a look at something, we're willing to do that"