St. Joseph County Assessor holds Town Hall as 2025 property tax appeals near completion

LAKEVILLE, Ind. -- The first of several planned town halls hosted by the St. Joseph County Assessor's Office drew residents to Lakeville on Saturday, offering help with property tax assessments and appeals ahead of the spring 2026 tax season.

Michael Castellon said the county has made significant progress in addressing a surge of appeals filed in 2025, with about 80 percent of nearly 14,000 cases resolved. He expects the remaining appeals to be completed within the next month or two.

“We have a lack of supply in properties, and we have a limited amount of supply that’s causing home values to go up,” Castellon said. “We’re 80 percent complete in appeals from 2025 and expect to have them done in the next month or two.”

The number of appeals filed last year was much higher than in previous years — something Castellon said was necessary to correct inaccurate data ahead of conducting an updated land study.

“I needed the appeals to come in because I needed to make sure that we were correcting the data,” he said.

The town hall was staffed with employees from both the assessor’s and auditor’s offices, allowing residents to review their assessments and get assistance filing appeals.

Castellon said many taxpayers conflate assessments with overall property tax bills, but he emphasized that local government budgets play a key role in determining final tax amounts. He encouraged residents frustrated by rising property taxes to stay engaged locally and contact their elected officials.

“When we talk property taxes, they think assessments, but really, they need to start thinking about what makes up those property taxes, and that’s the budget, and who controls the budget? The county government,” he said. “It’s important for them to pay attention to here and not necessarily what’s going on nationally.”

The next round of assessment notices is scheduled to be mailed April 27. The assessor’s office plans to host