Why are property tax assessments spiking in St. Joseph County?

 

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind.-- Tips flooded the ABC57 newsroom from St. Joseph County homeowners complaining of how high their tax assessments are this year.

Many say a major increase to their tax assessment doesn't make sense.

One of those homeowners is Kermit Walsh, who shared dozens of angry comments his neighbors left on Facebook with ABC57, complaining about this year’s county tax assessments.

These, of course, mirrored the comments ABC57's Annie Kate is monitoring. Walsh lives in a subdivision just outside New Carlisle called Stone Oak Estates.

“Our property taxes on average went up over $100,000 a house,” Walsh said.  

Walsh’s assessment went from $232,100 in 2023 to $301,200 this year.

Walsh is 79 years old, he’s a veteran and he’s disabled. There hasn’t been major work done to his home. This assessment increase just doesn’t make sense to him. 

“As a senior citizen on a fixed income, it’s very frustrating," Walsh said. "You know, there have been people in this subdivision that have moved out of state because of this deal, and we are seriously considering it. You know, there’s a strong chance we’ll sell and move even though we’ve only lived here three years and we love it.” 

ABC57's Annie Kate sat down with St. Joseph County Assessor, Michael Castellon. 

“There are roughly 1294 neighborhoods in St. Joseph County," he said. "Of the 1294 neighborhoods, only 111 saw some change at all, based off of 'trending.'” 

He explains “trending” means the changes in the market, and the county has massive development on the way, especially near New Carlisle.

“They’re in the epicenter of where what roughly 1600 jobs plus are going to come out and there’s no homes for these people to move to," Castellon said, "and so, that’s driving some of it.”

He said it's an imbalance of supply versus demand; the lack of housing is a huge contributing factor.

Notre Dame, he said, is rapidly expanding its footprint, buying up homes and hiking up property values. 

Castellon also said they've changed the assessment process in St. Joseph County. They have a new system for calculating property taxes.

Some homes will lose obsolescence they got from appeals in previous years. But they also have a new online portal for taxpayers, which he says will make it easier to appeal this year.

“For years, the assessments haven’t caught up to the market," Castellon said. "Partly because the staff wasn’t trained to collect the data because of the sheer enormity of the assessment process.”

He welcomes the appeals process, he said, to create a more accurate picture of the market.

He’ll be sure to see an appeal from Sharon Wentworth and her 97-year-old mother, Joyce Horvath, living in her home of nearly 50 years.

Her assessment went from $151,500 in 2023 to $250,400 this year.

“I just can’t believe they’re charging," Horvath said. "This house isn’t worth it, really.”

“She’s on a fixed income," Wentworth said, "and she doesn’t have a mortgage so there’s no one taking payments out for her, so she’s got to save that out of social security. And she’s making it now with the rates now but if it goes 60% up, there’s no way.”

They also must consider selling, they say, unless they successfully appeal. 

“Every person in the county should appeal their taxes. Everybody should," Walsh said. "It’s wrong what they’re doing.” 

The deadline to appeal your property tax assessment in St. Joseph County is June 17. The digital form can be found here.