A Senate committee went back to the implications of a property tax bill Tuesday, the day after IndyStar reported how it would benefit a state GOP party leader.
As noted earlier, House Bill 1166 would have prohibited local appraisers from increasing an individual’s property taxes after a property owner received a tax complaint for the next four years, unless there are material changes that affect the property.
While Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, said the original bill would help people across the state, he cited just one specific example of an increase in rates after an appeal: Porter County property owned by Chuck Williams, the state treasurer of the Republican, belongs to party. If a similar language had already been enacted, Williams’ house price would have been frozen, which would have saved him money.
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Legislators have changed the bill so that Williams’ problem is no longer directly addressed. The bill now enables a property owner to submit a written complaint to the Treasury Department through an appraiser or appraiser if the property owner believes they are not following national standards for valuation practice.
The department already empowered to revoke the certification of an appraiser or appraiser must respond within 30 days.
Soliday did not support the amendment because it does not change the Indiana law appeal process. He argues that his bill was not meant to catch a bad appraiser, which is now essentially its main function.
“We never said the problem is the auditor, it’s the process,” Soliday said during the committee. “So thank you for your consideration. But the changed version does not fix the problem.”
Both Brian Burdick, who is Williams’ attorney, and Soliday stressed that the proposed bill should not only benefit Williams; You said it should benefit all taxpayers. They said in a quick 10 minute search they found three examples of property stocks in the state that had been appealed eight times in the past 10 years.
“I thought it was wrongly characterized by people as an individual problem for someone who is actually my customer,” said Burdick. “But it’s a lot wider than that.”
The initial conflict
Soliday told IndyStar last month that the concept for the bill arose out of the Porter County problem with Williams’ parking lot.
In 2012, Williams bought a parking lot in Porter County for $ 75,000, according to real estate records filed during a House Committee hearing. As of 2016, the property’s tax worth was around $ 30,000. Then it rose to over $ 110,000 in 2016.
Williams paid thousands of dollars to get a valuation that took into account a lease with his tenant Buffalo Wild Wings to use the parking lot for $ 1 a year.
In March 2020, the county reached an agreement with Williams and agreed a value of $ 50,000. Just a month later, that estimated value rose to $ 111,300.
While Soliday said it was a widespread issue, the particular case he has focused on in committee hearings is the property of Williams, a politically affiliated party leader.
In connection with his business and immediate family members, Williams has poured $ 360,000 into state and regional campaign committees since 2006. He was also a member of the party leadership, as the state’s Republican Party contributed around $ 93,000 to Soliday.
Julia Vaughn, political director of the Common Cause Indiana political watchdog group, found Williams’ involvement troubling.
“This bill appears to be an example of a political insider who uses his political connections, combined with campaign input, to exert an overwhelming influence on the legislative process,” said Vaughn. “While it is praiseworthy for lawmakers to respond to the needs of its constituents, the links with political parties and the large campaign contributions of this particular member create the semblance of inappropriateness.”
Soliday denied bringing the bill for any other reason than to end a more common problem.
“The allegations that this bill is anything but an attempt to protect all Indiana taxpayers are categorically false,” Soliday said in a statement.
The now amended bill, passed unanimously by the Senate’s Tax and Financial Policy Committee, goes to the Rules Committee. The entire Senate will then examine the bill.
Call IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange at 317-432-9270. Follow her on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.