The Mail-Journal, Volume 28, Number 11, Milford, Kosciusko County, 26 April 1989 — Page 1

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Milford 658-4111 & Syracuse 457-3666

VOLUME 28

ifiutu BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT — Syracuse Town Board members were present when the new sewer facility was put on line at Syracuse on Monday afternoon, April 24. Shown left to right as they look ox er one of the large settling tanks at the $3.4 million facility are Jim Hughes, board president; Bill Hess, former board member: Kenny Johnston, member; Carol Koble, member: and Barb Carwile, member. < Photo by Glen Long)

New sewer facility on line at Syracuse

By GLENLONG Staff Writer The new sewage treatment plant at Syracuse was put into service at 3:45 p.m.. Monday, with present and former town board members on hand for the occasion. Initially the main power switch was thrown before noon, but a break in a two-inch chemical feed line was discovered and the operation had to be delayed. Town Board President Jim Hughes was smiling broadly as he stated. "I'm pretty impressed with the whole deal I think the contractors and our people have done a super job .’.’ Hughes noted that he and the other town board members appreciate the extreme efforts put in by Ron Helman, head of the sewage treatment department. •He was put in a difficult position by taking leadership ot the department after Joe Dock who resigned several months ago 1 was so much involved in its beginning. Townspeople ought to know of the extra effort he has put in on this project . " Joining Hughes at the plant were board members Kenny

Van Buren Township trustee needs permanent office

I By KATE WOLF ORD Staff Writer Va n Buren Township Trustee/Assessor Marcia Baumgartner enjoys the tact that she can fulfill her duties and be at home with her three children. She's able to do that because the offices ot assessor and trustee are in her home on South Mam Street in Milford. Despite those personal advantages. Baumgartner believes that there should be permanent offices for the trustee assessor Baumgartners duties have grown enormously in the last tew years She was appointed to of fice tn January of 1983 and since then, she says. "We ve gone from two to three building permits in one month, to 20 The equipment needed for her role as assessor is rapidly filling her basement, where she has t’.e office for her assessor sposition

Johnson. Carol Koble and Barb Carwile and former board member Bill Hess. Board member Carl Myrick was out of town on business and could not be present. ' "The town board wants the townspeople to know of all the work. Bill Hess put into this project." stated Hughes. "This is .he culmination of work of everybody who served on the town board over the last few years." Hess commented with emotion. "It's like a dream come true. This means so much to the future of our town " He said he remembers well all the trips he and Myrick made to Indianapolis in the early days to get the project off the ground. Johnson looked around and said "This is quite a plant, but you don’t really see all the things down below that help make it work." Randy Lindley, project engineer for TenEch Engineering. Inc., pointed out that the total cost of the project will be over $4 million, including $3,441,000 for the treatment plant and over $941,000 for the collection svstem V . The large sewer improvement project finally got under way in late May. 1988. with the signing of construction contracts. This followed several years of work

Baumgartner does receive office rent money from the township ‘52,640 per year), but believes the "ideal" solution would be a permanent office She has ' er reasons Because the job of assessor has grown so much. equipment such as a copier machine and filing cabinets and chpirs has been purchased "We are trying to acquire the equipment to do this thing right." she explains A per manent office. Baumgartner says, would be more efficient and make things easier for a future office-holder. The needs of any future township assessor.' should she choose not to run or be voted out office, are a major concern for Baumgartner In fact, she fears that other possible candidates might not want to run because. Who has the room 0 " Baumgartner, in a sense, does have room Her home is large and allows her to have the base ment office tor the assessing and an upstairs office for the position of trustee The offices must be kept separate because trustee

Consolidation of THE MILFORD MAIL (Est. 1888) and THE SYRACUSE-WAWASEE JOURNAL (Est. 190,)

and planning to secure the EPA grant which is funding the bulk of the cost. Ground brooking set for Monday Ground breaking ceremonies for the nexx middle school in the Waxvasee Community School Corporation will be held at 1:30 pm.. Monday. May 1. at the.site on SR 13 at CR 1000 N School officials. along with contractors and architects, will be on hand for the official action. The school corporation received a favorable vote last Wednesday from the Indiana State Tax Board. Verbal approval on the project was received by officials earlier this xveek. A spokesman for Carl J. Reinke and Sons. Inc . South Bend, general contractors, noted that some of the lay out work will begin this week, most of the action between , now and the ground breaking will be the mobilizing of the site — moving in of equipment. portable offices, storage trailers and other needed items. Excavation of the land is expected to start the xveek of Max 8

work can be confidential. However, both she and her deputy assessor Maxine Pifer. believe she pays a price for the convenience. While in the last several years, she has hired her deputy assessor and a part-time assistant to help with her growing duties. Baumgartner can jmd herself wearing too many hats at the same time. Another relevant factor is that with the records needed to do her job they must be kept accurately > being moved from trustee assessor to trustee/assessor over the years, and with the area growing so rapidly now. something could get lost’ ■ There are a number of records to keep For example, according to 1986 figures there wfre 2.815 parcels of ground in the township including Milford There were 207 mobile homes and 84'2 per sonal property forms were sent out ’ - Baumgartner observes. "I know it's grown since then In fact, in the town of Milford ajbne. forms for 40 .boats and 44

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 1989

Area assessors say —

Reassessment figures are at a standstill

(By DEB PATTERSON Staff Writer Putting reassessment figures on 1989 tax rolls, to be payable in 1990, is at a potential stand still. The primary reasons: (1. legislators have not decided what is going to happen and (2. problems with getting reassessments on the computer. Indiana Legislators have not made a decision whether to put the reassessment into effect in 1989 or wait until 1990. Some of the hold up deals with whether or not there will be more homestead credit or additional mortgage exemptions allowed. No action has been taken on these issues. Local assessors and trustee/assessors have continued working on the reassessment despite the possibility it may not come into existence until a later time. This has caused an extra work load, as two sets of records are being kept. If the reassessment is held off for another year. 1990 taxes will be based on the existing assessed valuation. "What assessors are trying to say is their hands are tied." noted Charlene Knispel. Turkey Creek Township Assessor. "The state tax board and legislators are stopping us. They have not decided what to do about the fiscal impact. Are they going to develop more homestead credits or mortgage exemptions 9 Our hands are tied in different areas.'' Sue Ann Mitchell. Tippecanoe* Township Assessor, stated "We don't know. Legislators may say hold off. We have two sets of records — the reassessment figures and the 1988. payable 1989. records we re keeping current and up to date if they say hold off." Mrs. Knispel noted there has already been numerous changes with building permits, land transfers, additions, tearing down of old buildings and replacing them with nexx- ones, that need recorded, both on the reassessment and last year's tax records No Idea Os Tax A large question is what impact. if the reassessment goes through, will it have on taxes next year. No one knows. Mrs. Mitchell noted people need to understand the assessors have no idea or way of knowing answers to these questions until all of the assessed valuation totals are in for the county. Concerning the tax rate. "We won't know what the tax rate is until January 15. .1990.” "Honestly, we don’t know Nobody in the county knows.” stated Mrs. Mitchell. In theory, the reassessment percentage of increase could be large, but because tax rates for 1990 have not ben set. it may not necessarily mean higher tax

businesses were given out during 1988. In the township, outside of Milford, forms given out for boats and equipment totaled 461. 63 were given out for farms and 30 for businesses during 1988 "The main objective." Baumgartner says. "Is to have one spot permanently " That objective. however, might be hard to obtain. .Trustees and assessors in Turkey Creek and Tippecamoe townships are elected to separate offices. Moreover, they have per manent offices. In Tippecanoe Township, the trustee's office is located in the rear part of the ' North Webster Fire Station, while the assessor s office is in the Tippecanoe Township Center building In Turkey Creek Township, the assessor's office is in the Syracuse Town Hall The trustee office is as well, but the offices are separate There is a budget freeze in Van Buren Township and while Baumgartner has scouted out office space, she finds that while she could afford the rent on her

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rates. It should mean lower tax rates. "However, this particular year, taxpayers have extra money being spent in 1990.” noted Mrs knispel. Already known extra expenditures to be carried by tax dollars are the rural numbering, E9ll. and new schools. This will cause a rise in tax rates, not the reassessment itself. Mrs. Mitchell noted, however, there is still a tax freeze and that a town or township can only collect in its budget two percent more than the previous year. Plagued With Problems The reassessment has been plagued with problems from the beginning. "You can t actively give true fault to one person or agency.” noted Mrs. Knispel. State manuals which were to arrive in July 1986 were not received until late August 1987, and even after the manuals were received, guidelines changed, causing more problems. Land values held up the process. Assessors were not given these figures until November of 1988 and the reassessments were to be put in effective March 1. 1989. payable 1990. Some counties did not receive the land values until later in March. And. the assessors have not been able to get everything on the computer. The capacity is not what it should be. The firm contracted to program the county's computer is working on solving the problem. Mrs. Mitchell noted that with the computer, assessors are able to draw buildings on each properm'S*. check the square footage and the computer checks the chart and picks out the figures so it is not done manually. Each assessor in the county has computers linked to the county. However, township trustee/assessors. because they have no established office, but inhome offices, do their entering on the county level. Maxine Pifer. deputy assessor for Van Buren Township. noted in this county a township trustee/assessor. such as Marcia Baumgartner is for Van Buren Township, is responsible for the assessing, but only gather the information for the county This is due to the combined job and xx ork load. "The county does the computing for us." she noted. Mrs Mitchell stated inputing each parcel of land for reassessment takes time but it can take as tong as two minutes after it is inputed to be entered in the main computer in Warsaw. Because of the delays in getting all the information onto the computer. it is unknown when Form 11 will be mailed to taxpayers. "Form 11 has on the new assessed value for the land and improvements This is not the tax dollars owed but the valuation only" commented Mrs. Pifer The state has indicated assessors would have until July 1

office allowance, she wouldn t be able to afford the utility bills Os course, assessing work takes those involved with field work out of the office In fact. Van Buren Township, including Milford, extends from CR 800 N. it's southern boundary, to the Elkhart County line, it's northern boundary. To the east, it extends as far as CR 400E and its western boundary extends to CR 200W , As for actual assessed value. Van Buren not including Milford' ranks<-m»»sixth place, from highest to lowest, out of the 17 county townships, excluding corporations Counting corporations. Milford is the third largest in assessed value, county-wide, out of 15. Van Buren township's total assessed valuation is $23,049,780. Her role as trustee, assessor is one Baumgartner enjoys "It's very interesting and I'm learning a lot." she says Despite t.he problems associated with having the offices in her home. Baumgartner en <Continued on page 2

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to send out Form 11. Once Form 11 is received the taxpayer has 30 days to appeal the new assessed value to the county tax board. If the county board does not make a change, then the appeal can go to the state tax board and on to the state tax court. Market Or Replacement? Questions have been raised about the way land value figures are obtained. Should replacement value figures be used or*" market value? This question has been raised by many. However, the reassessment figures are based on 1985 replacement or reproduction value figures. "Market value, in my opinion is a very subjective opinion that can't be proved, " commented Mrs. Mitchell Mrs. Knispel noted that market value is only what someone is willing to pay. Kosciusko County had a land valuation commission with assessors being provided information on what they believed land in their area is worth This information was sent to the state indicating what the values were for land in the area. Mrs. Mitchell noted that the state evaluated these figures, conducted several on site inspec-

Barbee Lake residents are told not to use new numbers

IBy KATE WOLFORD Staff Writer Residents living on EMS lanes on the Barbee Lake chain should not use the number recently assigned to them as part of the county's rural numbering project. Mistakes were made in the numbering and until they can be straightened out. residents should use their old numbers. Rural Numbering Project Director Steve Maenhout stated. "We made a lot of errors around the Barbee Lake area " Apparently. some people are using one set of numbers, while others are using another set. Most of the mistakes were the result of scale errors in the plat book. Some occupants at mailing addresses were mis-identified as well Residents have received a notice telling them to not use their recently assigned numbers until May 5 so that errors may be corrected Maenhout assured. "We re going to work out some solution there." Although he declined to reveal a solution at the April 25 meeting of the commissioners, xvhere the

I \ I DEPVTY ASSESSOR — Van Buren Township Deputy Assessor Maxine Pifer is shown with the bulk) plat book stored in Trustee/Assessor Marcia Baumgartner's basement. Both Pifer and Baumgartner believe the materials needed for the trustee/assessor would be better off in a permanent office in Milford. < Photo by Kate " olford)

tions and then changed many of those values. "The land values are higher than what we thought they should be. They based it on market value. " "The way assessing is done now can be defended, because the market value is what anyone wants to pay for it, it is too subjective." noted Mrs. Knispel. - Homes are noxv assessed according to the- square footage, bathroom fixtures, if there is a fire place, central air and the cost to reproduce the house, based on 1985 costs. Also considered is the condition of the house — compared with other homes built at the same time of comparable size, and the grade — quality and design of the home's construction. There are only two actual judgment calls made by each assessor, these are the condition and grade. “Even the state gives guidelines for that," noted Mrs. Knispel. Efforts have been made by many assessors in the state to educate themselves to do the job of assessing. But nothing was done prior to 1987 to help the trustee/assessors. Prior to 1987

discussion of the numbering mistakes took place, Maenhout said. “We're going to come up with a solution out there." He will meet with the appropriate emergency service providers in order to do that. On hand for the discussion were North Webster Fire Chief David Biesemeyer and Sue Mitchell, who represented the local EMS. "We re concerned about our people." said Mitchell Specifically, their concerns involved the giving of emergency services Area residents should not give the nexv numbers when requesting emergency services, they advised Apparently, it is feared that emergency care givers would not be able to find residents using the numbers that were assigned earlier this month Mitchell cautioned that the rural numbering system should not be thought of as only a mailing system, but rather, “away to get emergency services to the people." She touched upon the fact that EMS lanes were developed in 1983 and while they are not "perfect." they have helped Apparently in an attempt to stick with, the even-odd rural numbering system there have been more changes in the EMS numbering

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NUMBER 11

only elected township assessors and county assessors were allowed to attend a three-day training session in Indianapolis. This changed in 1987. Van Buren Township was given an exception in 1988 to send a first deputy to the school instead of the trustee/assessor. Mrs. Pifer attended. Mrs. Knispel and Mrs. Mi’ehell attend the sessions each year when possible. There are a total of 1,008 assessors in the state. 849 are trustee/assessors who were not schooled by the state tax board on anything dealing with real estate until they were allowed to attend the sessions. The Indiana Assessors Association conducts a school each July and invites trustee/assessors to attend. Mrs. Knispel, Mrs. Mitchell have attended these schools. However, Mrs. Baumgartner has not attended, funds were not available or appropriated in her budget for schooling. This is the case for many township trustee/ assessors, funds are not appropriated for them to attend schooling.

than had been previously anticipated. / Both Biesemeyer and Mitchell took issue with the fact that, under the new system, numbers had been assigned to lots where no growth is expected. Maenhout did observe, however. "Lots have been been filled before in very undevelopable areas.” Mitchell also expressed concern about the May 5 date given in the most recent notification, saying "It didn’t take three weeks to make this and I don’t think it will take three weeks to straighten it out.’’ She proposed a door-to-door solution with volunteers talking to residents individually. Mitchell further suggested that this could be done while household individual data is being collected for use by the emergency services. Vital information on the occupants of a household will be part of the the enhanced 911 system and will be entered into a computer system. Both the North Webster representatives and the commissioners made a point of commending Maenhout on the work his office has done. In general, the rural numbering project appears to be running smoothly.