By VICKI URBANIK

Township assessors are still entitled to their pay and benefits even after their assessing duties are transferred to the county assessor on July 1, and they are still eligible for $1,000 bonuses for maintaining their certification.

Those are among the provisions in a long-awaited opinion by the Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter on the impacts of the assessing component of Indiana’s major new tax law, H.E.A. 1001.

The law transfers the duties of most elected township assessors to the county assessor on July 1, but includes language stating that they are entitled to stay in office through to their end of their terms. What exactly that means has prompted plenty of questions from Porter County and other counties throughout Indiana, prompting the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance to ask Carter to interpret the new law.

In his opinion issued on Friday, Carter determined that H.E.A. 1001 didn’t abolish the post of elected township assessors until their current terms expire at the end of 2010.

So, does that mean an elected town assessor will keep getting pay and benefits after July 1? Yes, was Carter’s reply. Can the county council cut their pay? No, not for 2008, the calendar year in which the salary was fixed. Can the township assessor still get their regular $1,000 annual bonus? Yes. Would a township assessor who’s hired by the county assessor violate Indiana’s laws against dual office holding? No.

Elected township assessors in Porter County now earn $35,991 while the assessors who also serve as trustees are paid $22,170 for their assessing duties, with their townships paying the trustee component. The county pays the assessor salaries through property tax funds.

Carter’s opinion was less clear on the pay issue for assessors after 2008 and through the end of their terms in 2010. DLGF Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave issued a memorandum of her own on Friday. Citing Carter’s silence on the matter, she determined that in 2009 and ‘10, each “county council will have to decide on the compensation (i.e., salary and benefits) level they deem appropriate for these assessing officials.”

Westchester Township Assessor Candy Crone said she’s pleased that the attorney general issued the opinion, even though there are still unknowns.

“I’m just happy we have an official opinion, and we can move forward from here,” she said.

Double Dipping?

Carter’s opinion comes as Porter County Assessor John Scott is making plans for the transition to assume the assessing duties for 10 of the county’s 12 townships. The two exceptions are Portage and Center. Because these two townships have more than 15,000 parcels, H.E.A. 1001 stipulates that voters there will decide in a ballot question in November if they should keep their township assessor (even though the funding for these offices comes through the county, not township).

Scott said he plans to hire 14 to 16 deputies, with the tentative plans that they work in the large upstairs meeting room at the County Administration Center. He said he won’t hire all 10 township assessors and their employees. “That would defeat the purpose of what the DLGF and the Legislature wanted,” he said.

Scott said he won’t announce who he will hire as assessor deputies until very late in June. He said counties have been advised by the state not to go public with their hirings until then, due to the possibility of retribution from those who will be out of a job.

But under Carter’s opinion, the elected assessors will still get paid. Will those who are hired by Scott be able to draw both salaries, both from their current posts as well as in their new position?

County Council Attorney Dave Hollenbeck said that clearly would be allowed under Carter’s opinion. But he also noted that the county council has the authority to set the pay for assessor deputies at whatever level it wants. So presumably, the council could set the pay very low, on the grounds that the county is still paying the assessors their regular assessor salary.

“That is a possibility. But actually, that’s up to the council,” Scott said of that scenario.

He agreed, however, that the pay for a deputy will likely be much lower than the pay for the elected assessor. So why would an assessor bother to go to work at the county level, since they will still get paid regardless, at least through the end of this year?

“That’s the Catch 22,” Hollenbeck said.

Hollenbeck noted that because assessors are not positions set by the state constitution, the legislators have full authority to abolish their posts. “The solution and clarification of this clearly resides with the Legislature,” he said.

Short of a special legislative session, that could mean that Indiana lawmakers could act quickly when they reconvene in November to clear up the language in HEA 1001, potentially making the issue of salary in 2009 and ‘10 moot.

Scott raised the possibility that the state will take a step further and eventually eliminate county assessor positions as well. He said state officials have said they want to give counties only a few years to see how well they handle the township duties.

Scott does not plan to seek a second term. “I would be doing the county a disservice,” he said, noting that at his age of 76, he wants to be able to relax and not worry about whose computer isn’t working or quarrel about computer software. Eyeing his retirement, he said he hopes to make the transition in his office very smooth for his successor.

Another Glitch?

The transition now underway in Scott’s office will likely require action by the Porter County Council to include salaries for the newly hired deputies in this year’s county budget.

If that action involves additional appropriations, the county faces another big question, Hollenbeck said.

The DLGF isn’t acting on any additional appropriations for counties until after approving their 2008 tax rates and budgets. Like most Indiana counties, Porter County doesn’t yet have those numbers due to the ongoing delays in budget and property tax bills, and may not get them until sometime this fall, under some projections.

Hollenbeck said the county might have to find a non-property tax source of funding to cover any additional costs of the shift in assessors. “That’s still a work in progress,” he said.

Posted 5/13/2008