Taxpayers not paying out of escrow may soon have the option of picking a payment plan for their property tax bills that accommodates their budgets.

Porter County Treasurer Mike Bucko has been in talks with the Porter County Council on a new deal that may allow taxpayers to decide to pay their bills in monthly intervals before tax bills are issued in the spring and fall installments through an escrow-like account.

Bucko on Tuesday continued the discussion with the council saying he has been in correspondence with Allen County, which has a contract with STAR Financial Bank for the payment options.

The main motivation behind setting up this type of payment plan in which taxpayers can spread out their payments is to avoid putting those taxpayers on the tax sale list, Bucko said. “I don’t want to be in the business of selling people’s properties because of tax money.”

Those businesses and homesteads already paying out of mortgage escrow accounts are to be excluded from the service if the county decides to approve the new option. Taxpayers will still be able to pay their tax bill installment in one or two payments sent to First Source Bank, which processes the payments and handles the treasurer’s lockbox.

“This will decrease the amount of what is kept in the lockbox,” Bucko told the Chesterton Tribune.

Bucko also told the Tribune that Low Associates, whose tax software is used by his office as well as the auditor and assessor offices, is presently looking at how to fit the potential payment plan into their system. Low software is also used by Allen County.

Council members neither spoke against or in support of Bucko’s proposal at the meeting. Council President Dan Whitten, D-at large, said he is open to the possibility but brought up questions regarding what would happen if the payment plan came across non-sufficient funds and also who would be responsible for checking ACH -- Automatic Clearing House -- programs. He was concerned the county would be the ones tracking down the delinquent accounts.

“I think it’d be too much of an effort. That’s an issue,” said Whitten.

Bucko said that Allen County has not reported being burdened by “overwhelming numbers” in their payment system. Approximately 450 out of the 183,000 parcels in Allen County use the new plan, he said, compared to Porter County, which has around 80,000 parcels.

Council member Robert Poparad, D-1st, asked when the county would be able to start receiving the money under the new plan. Bucko said the money could start to be collected as early as January and start collecting interest ahead of time in the spring and the same for the fall installment starting in June, but the specifics on how the money could be settled and given to the local taxing units has not been determined.

Taxpayer transactions would be based on the previous year’s tax bill and taxpayers would have the freedom to choose when they would like their money to be collected.

Council member Karen Conover, R-3rd, wanted to know how much STAR Financial would be charging the county for the services. Bucko said he would be able to find out more when he attends a treasurer’s conference later next week.

The council unanimously approved a motion 6-0 to hold the discussion until the next council meeting where Bucko said he would shed some light on associated costs and specifics. Absent from the meeting was Laura Blaney, D-at large.

The council also approved a $1,000 request from the treasurer for additional part-time work on checking for bankrupt accounts on the tax sale list already screened by the auditor’s office.

Towards the end of the meeting, Whitten cheered last week’s groundbreaking for the county’s future Porter hospital replacement facility on the northwest corner of U.S. 6 and Ind. 49 in Liberty Twp.

He then announced that since the hospital has reached this step, the council will initiate talk on what is to be done with the money the county has accrued since the hospital was sold in 2007.

Alizabeth Bailey, executive deputy in the auditor’s office, said the hospital interest on the principle so far has reached $8,970,938.38. The hospital proceeds, she said, have totaled $161,134,511.82.

The council cannot touch the principle for at least five years without unanimous vote from both them and the county commissioners, but they do have the authority to use the accumulated interest.

Whitten after the meeting said he knows taxing units are waiting to “sink their teeth” into that money. No serious discussions have taken place amongst the council members as to where that money might go, he assured, but it is possible that talks could begin by the next council meeting on Aug. 24.

The council was to hold a discussion Tuesday on Porter County assessor John Scott’s request to get the council’s approval to place the county’s Geographical Information System under his supervision. The GIS system is currently maintained by the auditor.

At the last meeting, Scott asked the council to consider the switch and said the system, which includes data on parcel numbers, property addresses, and names of owners, provides his office with the data needed to figure out assessments before it is passed on to the auditor.

Both Scott and county auditor James Kopp were absent Tuesday due to unforeseen personal matters. The council voted to table the discussion until the next meeting where they also hope to include Porter County Commissioner President Robert Harper in the discussion.

Also tabled was a request from the Porter County Sheriff’s Department totaling $45,000 for kitchen equipment, copier rental, and maintenance agreements with provider Tiburon. The county commissioners are in the process of coming to a decision on what to do with the jail fund that the money will come out of.

In other business, the council approved continued tax abatements for the Family Express distribution center located a few miles south of Valparaiso on Ind. 49. The facility was granted a 10-year abatement in 2004.

Posted 7/28/2010