St. Joseph County assessor urges residents to file appeals as assessments rise; says SB1 provides limited relief

St. Joseph County Assessor Mike Castellon urged homeowners at a Saturday town hall to use the formal appeals process after widespread increases in assessed values, saying many increases stem from state-mandated cost-table adjustments and market activity rather than local assessor discretion.

Castellon said the state and court rulings set the framework for assessments and that local appeals are the principal way taxpayers can raise neighborhood-specific concerns. "The appeal process is so important because then we can begin to look at your property and compare it to individual properties," he said.

Why it matters: County residents have reported large assessment increases that in some cases outpaced household budgets. Although most residential taxpayers are subject to Indiana's 1% property-tax cap for homesteads, Castellon and other officials said rising assessed values — not higher tax rates — are driving larger bills for some homeowners. The assessor's office said it inherited a backlog of appeals and has changed procedures to provide more one-on-one review, but the office and local leaders warned that some remedies require action by state legislators.

Assessment process and causes of increases Castellon said assessments combine land and structure values, use state cost tables that are updated periodically, and apply market "trending" when recent sales differ from current assessments. He described two mechanisms that affected many 2024–25 assessments: local market trending based on neighborhood sales and a state decision to raise cost tables using multiple years of inflation. "The state decided to raise those cost tables, and they used 4 years of inflationary value out of my control," Castellon said.

He described how limited sales in a neighborhood — or investor flips and teardown/replace projects near places such as the University of Notre Dame — can…