By BRADEN LAMMERS
Braden.Lammers@newsandtribune.com
CLARK COUNTY —
The Clark County Commissioners were planning ahead in committing funds to help to resolve some of the issues with the 911-emergency response system, but an issue lingering from the past may again put the county in a lurch as it looks to fund essential services.
A provision that remains from when Indiana changed the way it assessed property values — from a subjective system to annual trending and basing taxes off current market value — could create havoc in Clark County.
The county, under the old system, was scheduled to conduct a reassessment in June to determine property tax values.
“Since this is 2010, we are scheduled now, having just gotten caught up after eight years of turmoil in our assessment process, we are scheduled for a general reassessment under the old methodology,” said commissioners’ attorney, Greg Fifer. “But now that we’ve moved to a fair-market-based system and are doing annual trending, the State Auditors Association, DLGF (Department of Local Government Finance), Association of Counties were all in favor of a bill that would have eliminated the necessity of doing the general reassessment. That bill did not pass the [state] legislature.”
It is unclear whether or not the process was planned to be updated when the reassessment process was changed, but as of the end of the legislative session last week, no action had been taken.
“Hopefully it is just something that slipped through the legislature and didn’t get taken care of, and they intend to do that the next session [which won’t happen until early 2011],” Fifer said. “And if they tell us that we’re probably willing to take some risk [in waiting to start the reassessment]. But that’s what we need some guidance for.”
The county is willing to wait, because it doesn’t have the manpower to conduct another reassessment.
“As we sit here today, we’re stuck with having to start a new general reassessment in June of this year,” Fifer said. “At the same time, we’re doing annual trending and quite frankly we don’t have the resources, at least in the assessor’s office, maybe in any office downstairs to simultaneously do both of those.”
The county doesn’t have the money either.
“The last time we did this, it [cost] $2.2 million,” Fifer said.
Although the cost likely would be spread over two years, it did not offer much consolation.
“We don’t have an extra $500,000 laying around to go do reassessments that don’t need to be done,” Fifer said. “It put us way behind in the tax bill process. After having gone through that, I think we’re just now caught up doing it the first time, so now we’re going to go through another six years of trying to get caught up?” he asked rhetorically.
Clark County is not the only area in the state being affected by a failure to update the legislation and it somewhat sours the news recently received by the auditor’s office that the tax bills had come in on time for the first time in years.
Auditor Keith Groth said, and reiterated at Thursday’s meeting, that this year was the first time since 2001 that the property taxes came in on time and are expected to be distributed on time in May and November.
Moving forward in an attempt to address this year’s concerns, the commissioners are relying on Local Option Income Tax funds that are expected to come in starting with the first disbursement in the early summer.
IN OTHER BUSINESS
• The commissioners unanimously approved declaring an emergency to pay a two-month bill for phone services, totaling $96,252, for 911.
The $96,000 bill is being paid out of the Cumulative Capital Fund, but the commissioners expect to be reimbursed.
“When the LOIT funds come in, it’ll go back into cum cap,” said Commissioner Ed Meyer.
Clark County’s 911 system also was the focus of a motion, which was unanimously approved, to move forward with a consolidation study.
The study will be conducted by Kimball Technology and is expected to cost just less than $59,000.
Jeffersonville and Clarksville have pledged to pay up to one-third of the cost of the study.
• A change in the division of emergency medical services response territory along Interstate 265 near the Utica and Jeffersonville border between Yellow Ambulance and Utica-based New Chapel EMS has been passed, contingent upon approval from Clark County Health Officer Dr. Kevin Burke and Clark County Health Department Administrator Mike Meyer.
It was reported by New Chapel attorney Tom Lowe at the meeting that the city of Jeffersonville had consented to approval of the division of the area.
• The county may be able to obtain up to $1 million in additional grant money with no match required.
Funding may be available to rural sewer corporations via the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, due to disaster funds becoming available related to three natural disasters that occurred in 2008, according to Executive Director of River Hills, Jill Saegesser.
Several local projects may be candidates to receive the funding, including an Underwood Sanitary Sewer Project considered by the Henryville Membership Sanitation Corp., a new elevated source tank for Marysville-Otisco-Nabb Water, and Washington Township Water and Washington Township Sewer Department’s wanting to complete some improvements to its system.
Proposals from each of the rural water and sewer corporations will be submitted to the commissioners so they can determine which project they wish to pursue, likely at the April 15 meeting.
• Because it was not unanimous in its first vote, the commissioners needed to again approve re-establishing the county’s cumulative bridge fund.
It is a statutory requirement to take a second vote when initial approval is not unanimous, but the vote again passed 2-1, with Commissioner Mike Moore voting against.
By reinstituting the cumulative bridge fund, a tax of up to 3 cents on $100 of assessed valuation for property may be imposed.
• A contract for services for the Purdue University Extension Office was unanimously approved by the commissioners. The appropriation for the funds had already been made by and no additional cost was incurred with the contract extension.
