taking down words

The Mitchie Awards: Tully Gives Us A Year In The Life Of The Guv

The Star's Matt Tully gives a humorous overview of the Guv's year in his column today:

"Dumbest Move: Daniels' team got heavily involved in the messy search for a new Ivy Tech president, resulting in a public relations headache. When the Ivy Tech board rejected Daniels' preferred candidate, the governor looked bad.

"Pat on the Back Moment: To fund health-care programs for uninsured Hoosiers, Daniels pushed through an increase in the state cigarette tax. The health-care program will become a key, and positive, piece of Daniels' legacy.

"Pepto-Bismol Moment: In November, a poll from this newspaper showed Daniels trailing both announced Democratic candidates for governor."

Big Headlines: It's Been Quite A Year For Political Hacks And Junkies

The Louisville Courier-Journal's Lesley Stedman Weidenbener runs through her picks for top political stories of the year. Boiled down to bullet points, they are:

• Property taxes
• The anti-incumbent electoral mood
• Property tax plans
• Baron Hill's return to Congress
• David Long's ascension to the top job in the Indiana Senate
• The cigarette tax hike
• Slots at the tracks
• Julia Carson's death

There's still a week left before we officially ring in the new year, but what stories make your 2007 list?

Money Back: DLGF Releases Property Tax Rebate Amounts By County

Property tax rebates are on the way:

"A $300 million tax rebate plan approved by the legislature this year is moving forward, with state officials announcing today that they have certified the amounts counties will get to distribute to approximately 1.6 million Hoosiers with a homestead exemption on their property.

"The amounts of the Homestead Credit Rebate to be distributed in each county range from about $196,000 in Switzerland County to just above $51 million in Marion County.

"The next step in the process will be for county auditors to calculate the rebate amounts for each parcel. How long that might take was not immediately clear.

"However, taxpayers in Marion and others counties where reassessments have been ordered, or where budget orders have not been certified by the Department of Local Government Finance, will have to wait until the reassessment is completed or the budget order is approved before calculating how the money is to be distributed.

"State and county officials have said the Marion County reassessment is not expected to be completed until February.

"The refunds will be distributed as checks, but will have any unpaid taxes owed by the taxpayer deducted. The remainder will be sent to taxpayers, mortgagees or owners of record, with county auditors determining the recipients."

Here's the county-by-county synopsis of rebate distribution amounts from DLGF: Rebates By County

Try, Try Again: State May Order Four More Counties To Redo Tax Bills

Drip, drip, drip. Here we go again:

"Four more counties might face property tax reassessments because state officials suspect that commercial and industrial properties were undervalued.

"Crawford, Fulton, Jennings and Spencer counties are the latest to be put on the state's list for possible reassessment. Four counties already have been ordered to do full or partial reassessments, and now a total of 17 more might have to do the same.

"Public hearings have to be held before the state decides whether a reassessment is in order.

"Sixty-eight counties have been cleared, and officials are still deciding the status of three remaining counties -- Brown, Putnam and Starke."

Whispered Conversations: Tax Panel To Talk Things Over Out Of Earshot

Lesley Stedman Weidenbener writes for the Louisville Courier-Journal about the Guv's property tax study group hashing out issues behind closed doors:

"The commission Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed to consider local government efficiency and make recommendations for change announced last week that it would hold a series of forums throughout the state to gain public input.

"But the group's co-chairmen -- former Gov. Joe Kernan and Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard -- said other meetings will be private.

"That's legal, but somewhat unusual.

"Most boards and commissions meet openly (or are supposed to), as required by Indiana's public-meetings law.

"That statute -- also called the open-door law -- applies to 'any board, commission, department, agency, authority, or other entity … exercising a portion of the executive, administrative, or legislative power of the state" as well as local governments and boards.'

"The open-door law requires those agencies, commissions and boards to provide notice about their meetings, post any agenda and keep minutes of the proceedings. The public must be allowed to attend any meeting during which those groups receive information, deliberate, make recommendations, establish policy, make decisions or take final action.

"But in this case, the governor's Commission on Local Government Reform is actually an advisory group, meaning it was created not to take any official action but to make recommendations to others for action.

"Advisory commissions also can be required to meet in public -- but the law says that's only if they are 'created by statute, ordinance, or executive order to advise the governing body of a public agency.'

"In this case, Daniels didn't use an executive order to create his commission, so it's not subject to the law."

Pushing Back: Locals Want Guv To Quit Passing The Property Tax Buck

A little more than a month ago, someone notified the Guv that he might want to come out from under his desk for a few minutes to address the property tax problem. He did, but his schtick was mainly to tell local governments that they need to raise taxes to pay for a lot of the costs he shoved down their throats in the 2005 budget cycle.

As it turns out, local government isn't particularly pleased playing the tragic foil in this little drama. First came this story:

"Commissioners from five Indiana counties grappling with high property taxes say they're tired of Gov. Mitch Daniels blaming the problem on local government officials.

"During a meeting Friday of commissioners from St. Joseph, Elkhart, Lagrange, Marshall, and Steuben counties, LaGrange County Commissioner George Bachman bristled at the governor's repeated comments largely blaming the high taxes on excessive local spending.

"'For the governor to say it's the counties' fault is ridiculous,' Bachman said."

Now this:

"The Hamilton County Council took a break from its 2008 budget hearings today to denounce the state's local option income tax system as vague and broken.

"'Don't force us into a system that is already broken,' said council president Brad Beaver during a noon press conference.

"Beaver said Gov. Mitch Daniels sent letters asking the county to raise local option income taxes to offset the rise in property taxes. But Hamilton County officials feel they have every reason not to trust the system.

"'We have no confidence,' said Beaver. 'It (the state's system) has no auditing trail. It is not transparent.'"

The Guv might be wont to wave off criticism from Northern Indiana because, hey, he sold their road and wants to dump more toxins into Lake Michigan. It's not like he's beloved up there.

But Hamilton County? That's his home territory. (Both literally and figuratively, once he moves from Geist to Laurelwood.) It might be a good idea for him to pay close attention to the folks who make up his base; losing support in Central Indiana could very well cost him next year's election.

As the old saying doesn't really go, you can't please all of the people all of the time, but when everyone hates you, you're screwed.

Don't Rock The Boat: Some Tax Options Come Right Back Off The Table

When lawmakers said everything was on the table with respect to solving the current property tax crisis, they apparently meant everything except for, you know, um, some things. Like, for example, these things:

"State Sen. Pat Miller said Tuesday that any attempt by the legislature to start taxing the now-exempt property owned by churches and nonprofits would set off a lobbying effort unlike anything before seen in the state Legislature.

"The Indianapolis Star reported Sunday that there is $2.7 billion in property in Marion County that goes untaxed because it is owned or used by charities. That includes hospitals, private schools and universities and various fraternal and professional organizations.

"About $1.2 billion of it belongs to churches. If all not-for-profit property in the county were taxed it would generate more than $95.6 million – enough to cover the annual budget of the Marion County Sheriff or give a tax break of roughly $200 for every property owner in the county.

"Lawmakers such as state Rep. Thomas Saunders, R-Lewisville, and others say the current property tax revolt in Marion County — where taxes this year doubled and tripled in some cases — and around the state makes it time to reconsider the nonprofits exemptions, particularly for large hospitals with high-paid executives and hundreds of millions in annual revenue.

"Saunders has even suggested that churches could pay fees for police and fire protection, particularly on property that is somewhat removed from the core church — such as church bookstores, coffee shops and landholdings.

"Miller, R-Indianapolis, a registered nurse and leader in the Confessing Movement, a conservative United Methodist organization, said she doesn’t think there are enough votes in either chamber to remove the exemptions for churches and not-for-profits. 'I think people will come out of the woodwork on this issue,' she said."

Maybe with some a little any leadership from the Guv, it would be possible to at least take this idea to the public instead of shrugging our shoulders and saying, "Oh, you know, we thought about that, but Pat Miller told us that people would never go for it."

No one is suggesting a God Tax or overburdening non-profits that truly don't turn a profit, but there appears to be an imbalance in the system that at least ought to be examined, if not approached with the legislative carving knife.

Flexing His Muscle: Soliday May Sue INDOT Over One-Sided Illiana Study

Republican State Rep. Ed Soliday is seriously pissed off at the Indiana Department of Transportation, so much so that he's considering filing a lawsuit against the agency because they refuse to consider any funding mechanism other than privatization for the Illiana Expressway:

"The Indiana Department of Transportation offered few details Friday about an pending Illiana Expressway study that has come under fire from state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso.

"And Soliday says he is willing to take the agency to court. He argues INDOT is violating state law by pursuing a feasibility study of the proposed highway that would examine only one financing option -- the private tollway model championed by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels.

"INDOT was scheduled to choose Friday between three firms vying to perform the study of the Illiana Expressway, which would connect Interstate 57 in Illinois with Interstate 65 in Lake County. But it's not clear whether a decision was made -- INDOT did not return repeated phone calls.

"Daniels addressed the issue Friday before departing the Statehouse for a motorcycle tour of southern Indiana, saying he doesn't believe INDOT intended to violate the Illiana study legislation -- Senate Bill 105 -- he signed into law in May..

"'They may have misconstrued it,' the governor said of INDOT. "I did see (Soliday's) letter yesterday and I told them: 'Take a real quick look and let's find out.' If it needs to be broadened, it should.'"

Drip, Drip, Drip: Five More Counties May Be Asked To Redo Tax Bills

The county-by-county Guv-ordered reassessment game continues:

"State officials have targeted five additional counties for possible reassessments because of the lack of change in values in a large percentage of commercial and industrial properties, Department of Local Government Finance Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave said today.

"Meanwhile, 15 other counties have been reviewed and will not be considered for new assessments.

"Musgrave said an initial review of county data created enough suspicion about commercial and industrial assessments to move ahead with the process of seeking reassessments in Jay, Pike, Warren and Sullivan counties. Similar problems were cited with the commercial assessments in Montgomery County.

"Musgrave said public hearings will soon be scheduled in all five counties to get local input that will help her make a determination if reassessments are needed and, if so, how extensive they should be and whether property owners should pay their 2007 or 2006 bills.

"The 15 counties that will not be subject to reassessment are Fountain, LaGrange, Madison, Martin, Hancock, Henry, Huntington, Knox, Miami, Orange, Porter, Pulaski, Tipton, Vermillion and Warrick.

"Musgrave added that as of Wednesday, all but three counties – Jay, Jefferson and Dubois – still have not provided all of the critical data the agency requested in a July 20 letter. She said the agency still has a significant amount of data that just came in, and has not yet been reviewed, which may bring other counties into compliance."

What To Do? Guv's Order May Not Change Local Tax Bills One Bit

WRTV's Norman Cox bears more potential bad news for local taxpayers who might be wondering what long-term effect the Guv-ordered reassessment will have on their bills. From his blog:

"More indication today that Marion County homeowners aren't going to see much, if any, long-term property tax relief after all.

"Franklin Township Assessor Becky Williams says a report from the state Department of Local Government Finance indicates that the reassessment ordered by Gov. Daniels won't have much impact on homeowners.

"The report says that even if commercial and industrial property were reassessed upward by twenty percent across the board (unlikely) it would only drop the average homeowners' bills by three to four percent. (Insert usual disclaimers here—it depends on which township you live in, whether you're allowed to retroactively file for homestead and mortgage exemptions, etc.)

"The bottom line is that most of the money homeowners here are saving now by paying only their 2006 bills will still wind up on their budgets as accounts payable at some point, just not now. And as Marion County Treasurer Mike Rodman has pointed out, they'll probably get those catch-up bills right before their May, 2008, bills are due, making next spring even worse than this one.

"That's the reason Rodman is trying to establish an installment plan so that homeowners can pay on their May, 2008, bills ahead of time and not be caught in the vice-like squeeze of two nearly simultaneous payments."

Perhaps if the Guv hadn't frittered away three sessions with no substantive property tax plan -- and signed off on the 2005 Republican budget, which capped tax credits and shoved beaucoup state spending onto local governments -- we wouldn't be in this bind. But he's not exactly what TDW would call a long-range thinker.

So, special session in November?