That is the headline to this story today from the Johnson County Daily Journal. I love this story. Here are some quotes:
Local property owners received a surprise notice in the mail last weekend: Taxes were 40 percent lower thanks to action taken by state lawmakers.Posted by Marcia Oddi at May 28, 2004 10:50 AMState legislators ordered Indiana counties to send postcard messages to property owners, informing them that their taxes could have been higher. The cards confused residents by telling them their property taxes — which on average increased 18 percent — are lower than they could have been. * * *
State law required that Indiana counties send notices to property owners on behalf of the legislature. County officials often blame the state for increased taxes, and legislators wanted to show how the general assembly kept tax bills low, said Sen. Robert Garton, R-Columbus.
The postcards resulted in dozens of heated phone messages to the county treasurer’s office. Residents did not understand that state law required county officials to send the notices, Treasurer Jan Richhart told the county commissioners Monday.
The county paid $5,400 to send notices to more than 38,000 property owners.
“We had to do this,” county attorney Joe Pitcher said. “It was a state mandate.”
Property owner B.J. Nowacki said the postcards weren’t clear enough for some residents to understand. State officials should have used examples to show that tax bills did not skyrocket because of the court-ordered reassessment.
The assessed value of Nowacki’s house and two-acre lot in Greenwood nearly tripled in 2003, but the tax bill rose by just 23 percent.