An Indiana state department has released its decision on the 2023 Lake County Land Order, claiming the order was properly prepared and should not be modified.
On Aug. 1, 2023, one of Gary’s largest landowners, Andy Young, submitted a petition with 171 signatures, requesting a review of the Lake County Land Order.
Young wasn’t available on Tuesday to immediately provide a comment about the decision.
“The Department finds that the taxpayers submitted no probative evidence to support any of their claims that the Department should deny or change the 2023 Land Order,” said the decision, signed by Indiana Department of Local Government Finance Commissioner Jason Cockerill. “The Department finds that all aspects of the 2023 Land Order comply with legal requirements and assessment standards both in Indiana Code and in the Indiana Administrative Code. The Department orders no change to the 2023 Lake County Land order.”
The DLGF also received ratio studies for each Lake County township and found that all data was “in compliance with standard assessment and appraisal standards.”
The department studied properties in both Calumet Township and Miller Beach, and found that both neighborhoods met ratio study parameters for median sales, coefficient of dispersion, and price related differential.
The order recorded significantly higher land values in Calumet Township and foreshadows higher property taxes in the area, according to Post-Tribune archives.
Property taxes fund government services provided by counties, townships, municipalities, school districts and other local government bodies, and are based on the market value of a property determined by an assessor’s office. Indiana properties are assessed every four years, with 25% of a county’s properties assessed each year.
Lake County Assessor LaTonya Spearman, on June 21, 2023, submitted the land order to the Lake County Property Tax Appeals Board at a public meeting. The jump in property values was because of updated assessment methods that have rectified a long-term problem with the undervaluation of Calumet Township properties, according to Post-Tribune archives.
Since a petition was submitted and followed exact criteria, the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance had to review land values and make a decision following a public hearing.
The Department of Local Government Finance conducted a public hearing on Oct. 10, 2023, and reviewed the land order and analyzed information submitted by taxpayers, primarily from the Gary and Miller Beach areas, according to the department’s decision.
According to Post-Tribune archives, Lake County taxpayers called the assessed orders exorbitant and excessive, with several of them identifying themselves as Miller residents living on modest or fixed incomes. They expressed frustration with paying larger property taxes while living where government services are unreliable. Some speakers said that data was skewed to result in a land order that reflects unfairly inflated property values.
More than 200 taxpayers wrote to the DLGF with concerns about the land order. Most were Miller Beach residents, and the department’s decision said some cited older age, fixed incomes and difficult circumstances that would make payment of higher tax bills impossible.
Taxpayers also expressed that local services are lacking and that short-term rental property investors were driving property values up.
“Many residents stated they had lived there for decades and would be forced to sell with increased property values that might lead to higher property taxes,” the decision said. “Some residents in Miller Beach expressed concern that there are no shops or cafes to help shoulder tax burdens and that therefore residential homeowners carried the weight of property taxes.”
The Lake County assessor “submitted thousands of individual data set points” to support land order values, which included the 2023 Lake County Land Order, neighborhood counts, 2021-22 sales by neighborhood, and the Calumet Township Land Order. The assessor also provided a list of parcels owned by Young and Gary resident James Nowacki as of Jan. 1, 2023, and a list of parcels sold by both.
Young owned 1,464 parcels in 2023, and DLGF found properties sold by Young had an assessed value of $283,200 and had a total sale price of more than $4.6 million.
