State conducted assessment or reassessment; notice; state contract
with appraising firm; state review of contract; land values;
contract payment; severability
Sec. 31.5. (a) As used in this section, "assessment official" means
any of the following:
(1) A county assessor.
(2) A township assessor.
(3) A township trustee-assessor.
(b) As used in this section, "department" refers to the department
of local government finance.
(c) If the department makes a determination and informs local
officials under section 31(c) of this chapter, the department may
order a state conducted assessment or reassessment in the county
subject to the time limitation in that subsection.
(d) If the department orders a state conducted assessment or
reassessment in a county, the department shall assume the duties of
the county's assessment officials. Notwithstanding sections 15 and 17
of this chapter, an assessment official in a county subject to an order
issued under this section may not assess property or have property
assessed for the assessment or general reassessment. Until the state
conducted assessment or reassessment is completed under this
section, the assessment or reassessment duties of an assessment
official in the county are limited to providing the department or a
contractor of the department the support and information requested
by the department or the contractor.
(e) Before assuming the duties of a county's assessment officials,
the department shall transmit a copy of the department's order
requiring a state conducted assessment or reassessment to the
county's assessment officials, the county fiscal body, the county
auditor, and the county treasurer. Notice of the department's actions
must be published one (1) time in a newspaper of general circulation
published in the county. The department is not required to conduct
a public hearing before taking action under this section.
(f) Township and county officials in a county subject to an order
issued under this section shall, at the request of the department or the
department's contractor, make available and provide access to all:
(1) data;
(2) records;
(3) maps;
(4) parcel record cards;
(5) forms;
(6) computer software systems;
(7) computer hardware systems; and
(8) other information;
related to the assessment or reassessment of real property in the
county. The information described in this subsection must be
provided at no cost to the department or the contractor of the
department. A failure to provide information requested under this
subsection constitutes a failure to perform a duty related to an
assessment or a general reassessment and is subject to IC 6-1.1-37-2.
(g) The department may enter into a contract with a professional
appraising firm to conduct an assessment or reassessment under this
section. If a county or a township located in the county entered into
a contract with a professional appraising firm to conduct the county's
assessment or reassessment before the department orders a state
conducted assessment or reassessment in the county under this
section, the contract:
(1) is as valid as if it had been entered into by the department;
and
(2) shall be treated as the contract of the department.
(h) After receiving the report of assessed values from the
appraisal firm acting under a contract described in subsection (g), the
department shall give notice to the taxpayer and the county assessor,
by mail, of the amount of the assessment or reassessment. The notice
of assessment or reassessment:
(1) is subject to appeal by the taxpayer under section 31.7 of
this chapter; and
(2) must include a statement of the taxpayer's rights under
section 31.7 of this chapter.
(i) The department shall forward a bill for services provided under
a contract described in subsection (g) to the auditor of the county in
which the state conducted reassessment occurs. The county shall pay
the bill under the procedures prescribed by subsection (j).
(j) A county subject to an order issued under this section shall pay
the cost of a contract described in subsection (g), without
appropriation, from the county property reassessment fund. A
contractor may periodically submit bills for partial payment of work
performed under the contract. Notwithstanding any other law, a
contractor is entitled to payment under this subsection for work
performed under a contract if the contractor:
(1) submits to the department a fully itemized, certified bill in
the form required by IC 5-11-10-1 for the costs of the work
performed under the contract;
(2) obtains from the department:
(A) approval of the form and amount of the bill; and
(B) a certification that the billed goods and services have
been received and comply with the contract; and
(3) files with the county auditor:
(A) a duplicate copy of the bill submitted to the department;
(B) proof of the department's approval of the form and
amount of the bill; and
(C) the department's certification that the billed goods and
services have been received and comply with the contract.
The department's approval and certification of a bill under
subdivision (2) shall be treated as conclusively resolving the merits
of a contractor's claim. Upon receipt of the documentation described
in subdivision (3), the county auditor shall immediately certify that
the bill is true and correct without further audit, publish the claim as
required by IC 36-2-6-3, and submit the claim to the county
executive. The county executive shall allow the claim, in full, as
approved by the department, without further examination of the
merits of the claim in a regular or special session that is held not less
than three (3) days and not more than seven (7) days after the
completion of the publication requirements under IC 36-2-6-3. Upon
allowance of the claim by the county executive, the county auditor
shall immediately issue a warrant or check for the full amount of the
claim approved by the department. Compliance with this subsection
constitutes compliance with IC 5-11-6-1, IC 5-11-10, and IC 36-2-6.
The determination and payment of a claim in compliance with this
subsection is not subject to remonstrance and appeal. IC 36-2-6-4(f)
and IC 36-2-6-9 do not apply to a claim submitted under this
subsection. IC 5-11-10-1.6(d) applies to a fiscal officer who pays a
claim in compliance with this subsection.
(k) Notwithstanding IC 4-13-2, a period of seven (7) days is
permitted for each of the following to review and act under IC 4-13-2
on a contract of the department entered into under this section:
(1) The commissioner of the Indiana department of
administration.
(2) The director of the budget agency.
(3) The attorney general.
(l) If money in the county's property reassessment fund is
insufficient to pay for an assessment or reassessment conducted
under this section, the department may increase the tax rate and tax
levy of the county's property reassessment fund to pay the cost and
expenses related to the assessment or reassessment.
(m) The department or the contractor of the department shall use
the land values determined under section 13.6 of this chapter for a
county subject to an order issued under this section to the extent that
the department or the contractor finds that the land values reflect the
true tax value of land, as determined under this article and the rules
of the department. If the department or the contractor finds that the
land values determined for the county under section 13.6 of this
chapter do not reflect the true tax value of land, the department or the
contractor shall determine land values for the county that reflect the
true tax value of land, as determined under this article and the rules
of the department. Land values determined under this subsection
shall be used to the same extent as if the land values had been
determined under section 13.6 of this chapter. The department or the
contractor of the department shall notify the county's assessment
officials of the land values determined under this subsection.
(n) A contractor of the department may notify the department if:
(1) a county auditor fails to:
(A) certify the contractor's bill;
(B) publish the contractor's claim;
(C) submit the contractor's claim to the county executive; or
(D) issue a warrant or check for payment of the contractor's
bill;
as required by subsection (j) at the county auditor's first legal
opportunity to do so;
(2) a county executive fails to allow the contractor's claim as
legally required by subsection (j) at the county executive's first
legal opportunity to do so; or
(3) a person or an entity authorized to act on behalf of the
county takes or fails to take an action, including failure to
request an appropriation, and that action or failure to act delays
or halts progress under this section for payment of the
contractor's bill.
(o) The department, upon receiving notice under subsection (n)
from a contractor of the department, shall:
(1) verify the accuracy of the contractor's assertion in the notice
that:
(A) a failure occurred as described in subsection (n)(1) or
(n)(2); or
(B) a person or an entity acted or failed to act as described
in subsection (n)(3); and
(2) provide to the treasurer of state the department's approval
under subsection (j)(2)(A) of the contractor's bill with respect
to which the contractor gave notice under subsection (n).
(p) Upon receipt of the department's approval of a contractor's bill
under subsection (o), the treasurer of state shall pay the contractor
the amount of the bill approved by the department from money in the
possession of the state that would otherwise be available for
distribution to the county, including distributions from the property
tax replacement fund or distribution of admissions taxes or wagering
taxes.
(q) The treasurer of state shall withhold from the money that
would be distributed under IC 4-33-12-6, IC 4-33-13-5,
IC 6-1.1-21-4(b), or any other law to a county described in a notice
provided under subsection (n) the amount of a payment made by the
treasurer of state to the contractor of the department under subsection
(p). Money shall be withheld first from the money payable to the
county under IC 6-1.1-21-4(b) and then from all other sources
payable to the county.
(r) Compliance with subsections (n) through (q) constitutes
compliance with IC 5-11-10.
(s) IC 5-11-10-1.6(d) applies to the treasurer of state with respect
to the payment made in compliance with subsections (n) through (q).
This subsection and subsections (n) through (q) must be interpreted
liberally so that the state shall, to the extent legally valid, ensure that
the contractual obligations of a county subject to this section are
paid. Nothing in this section shall be construed to create a debt of the
state.
(t) The provisions of this section are severable as provided in
IC 1-1-1-8(b).
As added by P.L.228-2005, SEC.12.
Last modified: May 28, 2006