By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Kosciusko County Council on Thursday held off — for now — on the idea of eliminating property taxes on most mobile homes.
The debate came down to an issue of fairness versus an issue of simple math.
The ordinance would exempt mobile home personal property assessments. The change would not affect mobile homes assessed as real estate.
Unlike most property tax collections, the county is regularly unable to collect about 35 percent of the mobile home taxes, in part because the homes are often sold and relocated. On top of that, some mobile homeowners just ignore the bills.
Even if collection efforts are made, most of those efforts on delinquent taxes lapse after ten years.
At the same time, the county spends a large amount of money and time trying to collect those taxes.
The proposal to eliminate the tax was supported by county treasurer Michelle Puckett and county Assessor Gail Chapman.
“The revenue loss is .002 — again, these revenues are just bonus dollars that you can’t really anticipate collecting … It’s really if we do, we do, if we don’t, we don’t,” Puckett said.
Chapman said they employ four people who spend four or five months per year working to collect mobile home taxes.
On the other hand, taxing units, such as schools and libraries would lose out on those tax revenues if no money is collected.
County Council President Mike Long had previously urged the pubic and taxing units to voice their opinions on the issue, but that did not materialize at Thursday’s meeting. Only two people stepped forward to speak. One was Rachael Rhoades, a Republican candidate for county council who opposed the idea, as well as one member of the public.
Long was a bit miffed at the apparent lack of interest from the public on the matter.
Councilman Dave Wolkins said he thinks the public still might have an interest if the county reconsiders.
Chapman warned that if they don’t end the policy, she’ll have to hire another person at the cost of some $44,000 to continue assessment work on personal property mobile homes.
The total cost between the assessor’s office and the treasurer’s office needed in regard to mobile home tax collections — everything from supplies to wages to postal expenses — is more than $134,000.
If the county collected all property taxes from mobile homes, the total would be around $700,000, but only about $454,000 was collected in 2023.
Of that money, the county received $69,880. Other big recipients in 2023 were Warsaw Community Schools ($130,166), Wawasee Schools ($62,883), and Warsaw Community Public Library ($7,336).
State lawmakers passed legislation recently that allows counties to opt out of mobile home tax collections as personal property (rather than real estate).
Puckett said the biggest counties are sticking with collections while many smaller counties are opting to cease efforts.
Kosciusko County is believed to have a large number of mobile homes compared to other counties.
Puckett pointed out that if they eliminated the tax, it would be hard to go back and begin collecting again because records would no longer be updated.
Cirilieo proposed the council hold off on the vote until they learn more and hear from other taxing units.
The vote on Ciriello’s motion was 4-2. Those supporting the motion included Long, Wolkins, Kathy Groninger and Ciriello. Those opposed were Truex and Kimberly Cates.
The county auditor’s office will send out a notice to taxing units asking for input, but the council declined to set a date for when it would reconsider.
Truex reacted to the move.
“I think you’re delaying it for no reason because the information is not going to change,” she said.
