Posey, Gibson Counties Forced to Reassess

Commercial property owners in Gibson and Posey Counties: look out! Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has ordered the state Department of Local Government Finance to start a reassessment of all property in Gibson, Posey, Delaware, Brown, Jasper, Jay, Montgomery, Morgan and Pulaski Counties. The governor said Wednesday that the move comes after a review of commercial property values that suggests they do not reflect the trend of increasing value. Trending is the recently adopted means of determining a propertys value based on real market prices of near by property that has sold in the last 2 years. Daniels said the absence of increases in places like Posey County suggests, "people just threw up their hands and didnt try" to use the trending method to determine commercial property value. That shifts more tax burden on the private home owner, according to Daniels. But Posey County Assessor Kristi Carroll says her countys commercial property has experienced stagnant growth. "You have to have commercial sales to get commercial values to trend," Carroll said. According to her office, 97% of commercial property values in her county stayed the same, because very few properties changed hands. County Commissioner Scott Moye is urging state lawmakers to find new ways to fund schools, local government and courts that dont require such a complex and confusing system. "Were operating in the stone age," he said. Representatives from the state will be in Posey and Gibson Counties Friday to help them begin the process of reassessment.