County taxable value jumps $1.3 billion
Hamilton County’s assessed valuation on which next year’s property taxes are based has increased by one and one-third billion dollars. That’s billion with a B. That is nearly a 6 percent increase in one year.
Some may ask, what does that mean? It means that if the budgets of the units of local government are, on average, held to less than a 6 percent increase there will be a slight decrease in property taxes in 2021.
The figures, supplied by Deputy Auditor Lee Graham, show the net taxable value of the county is $24.9 billion due to a healthy increase in new construction aided by a trending upward in the value of land in many parts of the county.
Among the units of local government, Carmel had the largest increase in values, soaring by $320 million. The only decrease was reported in Washington Township, down about $2 million, likely due to Westfield annexations. All other units experienced increases.
Budgets of the cities, towns, schools, townships, libraries and the overall county general budget will be adopted by October. Assessed values will be applied to the budgets to determine what tax rate is needed in each unit to fund the respective spending plans.
The full list of the new assessed value totals for each of the 29 units of local government units is found on the Hamilton County Auditor’s website under the heading Helpful Documents.