Mayor Greg Ballard's campaign has been running these Google ads for months now that tout a claim that 98.5% of homeowners in Marion County pay less in property taxes today than they did in 2007. Looking at my tax bill I received in the mail today, I continue to wonder why this is not the case for everyone who owns condominiums in my homeowners association. Our property for the second consecutive year is assessed at about 25% more than its fair market value upon which our property taxes are supposed to be based, and we are paying higher property taxes now than we paid in 2007, notwithstanding the 1% property tax cap. For some reason, the Marion Co. Assessor a couple of years ago decided our property was under assessed and jacked our assessments well above the market values in spite of selling prices that showed otherwise. It apparently takes more than two years for the Marion Co. Assessor's Office to get around to looking at the appeals property taxpayers file challenging their assessments. My tax bill says I'm saving $1,331 because of the 1% property tax cap, but I lost several hundred dollars in savings from the homestead tax credit that has been eliminated, and if my property was assessed at the actual fair market value, my taxes would be considerably lower. I'm also paying a 1% higher sales tax rate every time I buy anything or eat out to pay for the alleged savings I'm getting from the 1% property tax cap. In short, my taxes have gone up, not down. Here's a percentage breakdown in the tax rate increases by taxing district according to my bill:
County + 3.71%
Health/Hospital +13.17%
Libary + 9.94%
IndyGo +14.10%
Township 0.00%
School + 2.73%
City + 9.82%
Average + 5.90.%
