CROWN POINT — Fewer than two months remain for Lake County property owners to begin the process of appealing the assessed value of their home or other real estate, and potentially reduce the size of their next property tax bill.
Data provided by Lake County Assessor LaTonya Spearman show the assessed value of all the property in the state's second-most populous county increased 8.21% to $48.9 billion for the 2023 tax year that's paid in 2024.
That follows countywide assessed value increases of 12.16% for 2022 pay 2023, and 5.8% in 2021 pay 2022, according to the assessor.
Despite the ongoing assessed value growth, Spearman said the owners of fewer than 1% of Lake County parcels have opted to appeal the assessed value of their properties over the past three years.
"While I hope this is an indication that we're doing a good job and taxpayers are more informed about the process, I want to make sure people are aware of their rights and the upcoming deadline," Spearman said.
The statutory deadline to file a Form 130 and initiate an assessment appeal is June 15. Spearman's office this year will accept appeals received by June 17 since the deadline falls on a Saturday.
Assessed value appeals can be submitted in-person or by mail at the assessor's office in the Lake County Government Center in Crown Point; by emailing: assessor@lakecountyin.org; by fax: 219-755-3022; or through the appeals portal on the assessor.lakecountyin.org website.
Under Indiana law, properties are assessed based on their market value-in-use, which means a property's value should reflect what a willing buyer would pay to purchase it.
According to the auditor, Lake County properties generally are valued using mass appraisal techniques and in conjunction with other properties in the area.
Trending factors also are applied each year to property values across the county based on recent property sales to ensure the assessed value of each property matches its current market value-in-use.
Property owners who believe their real estate is overvalued can appeal their assessment, triggering a process where the unique features of their property are scrutinized to ensure the assessment is accurate.
Assessment appeals, however, only can result in an unchanged or decreased assessment for the tax year at issue; any potential increase in assessed value only would apply in future years.
But successfully appealing a property tax assessment still can be costly. Generally, a property owner needs to obtain and present a property appraisal, comparable property sale prices, and similar relevant data to show the market value-in-use calculated by the county assessor is incorrect.
A reduced property assessment typically results in a lower property tax bill because the annual charge is calculated by applying the property tax rates of local units of government to the assessed value of each parcel of privately owned property in the county.