St. Joseph County property assessments will see four percent decrease, per county assessor

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- It's already about that time of year when you can expect to receive your new property tax assessments.

Following the dramatic increase in assessments thousands of Saint Joseph County residents saw last spring, many are sure to be holding their breaths while opening up that piece of mail this time around.

However, the Assessor's Office is telling ABC57 it does have some good news for local taxpayers.

 "Centre will see a three percent decrease; Liberty is actually seeing a nine percent decrease out at North Liberty, Union a five percent, Warren a five percent decrease," reads Saint Joseph County Assessor Michael Castellon.

Decreases, instead of increases.

Most Saint Joseph County townships will see relief in this year's property assessment, making for a county wide decrease of four percent.

"Which is a significant change considering it's been going up," Castellon says.

County Assessor Michael Castellon says it's a significant, positive change for county taxpayers. 

It comes after addressing issues in the land study, which is the basis for determining assessments, and the nearly fourteen thousand appeals filed by property owners last year, which are 93 percent done now. 

"That appeal process, even though it was large, allows me in a large part to collect the data to be able to correct the neighborhoods and that's why you're seeing the reductions across the county," explains Castellon.

For example, the assessor's office was able to create new "submarkets" for long-time homeowners in economic development hotspots like Notre Dame and New Carlisle, so they aren't getting compared to new housing there. 

"That was a huge change," says Castellon. "I think it'll provide some stability for them. But it took the appeals for me to be able to do that." 

However, Castellon warns this is not an assurance everyone will see a reduction in their personal property tax assessments, saying just because the county-wide assessments are down, doesn't mean property taxes are too.

Many external factors come into play like school referendums and levies, or the county's budget. 

"Every taxing district gets to vote in their own tax rates, so if they put in a new fire district, that requires more taxes, that's out of my control. I don't set the tax rates, I don't adjust the tax rates, I don't set the budget," Castellon explains.

He does expect an all-time low in appeals filed this year, but he encourages residents to file them if they see a discrepancy because those appeals are important in fixing assessments, like this year.

"I want to thank the taxpayers for actually working with us this year, because we were able to get the information to make sure, we got the things correct that we needed to," Castellon says.

The remaining seven percent of appeals that are unfinished, Castellon tells ABC57, is mostly due to property owners who have not responded to notices from the assessor's office. 

If you filed an appeal but it's still unfinished, Castellon recommends you either check your spam folder or just reach out to the office and ask for an update.

You can find more information on county property tax assessments at their website.