Plymouth Property Taxes to Increase; Total Revenue Down

 A property tax reassessment for Marshall County may lead to an unpleasant surprise for some taxpayers as the property tax rate for the city of Plymouth will soon increase from 2.5448 cents to 2.8582 cents per $100 assessed property value. Plymouth Clerk-Treasurer Toni Hutchings presented the city council with information regarding the 2012 reassessment – the first reassessment conducted in ten years – and said the numbers indicate a rough upcoming tax season.

To add to the bad news, the city’s assessed property value dropped nearly 17 percent, from $439,535,587 to $376,541,798. Hutchings said that drop surprised a lot of people, but to make matters worse, a higher tax rate could lead some taxpayers to hitting the “circuit breaker” limit – a law implemented by the Indiana General Assembly limiting the amount of property taxes that can be collected from tax payers. If that were to occur, the government would have its hands tied as far as raising money to make up for that deficit.

Fortunately, Hutchings said it might not have much of an effect on the county, since agricultural property is assessed differently from structures. Hutchings explained the assessed value of structures decreased, but the value of land overall didn’t change much.

With a city budget of $10,879,762, Plymouth expects roughly $5,652,645 annually from the regular tax levy. Unfortunately, with some people paying their taxes late or not paying them at all, on top of the property tax levy decrease and hits in the tax increment financing districts, Hutchings said she’s nervous about the future. But, until all the tax bills are sent out, the city won’t know how much revenue is truly lost.