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Board declines to lower assessments for four Patel‑owned hotels after reviewing county income model and petitioner appraisal
Summary
The Elkhart County board denied appeals from Norman Patel challenging 2025 hotel assessments for AJ Hospitality, Jai Shree Krishna, KJ Hospitality and NJ Hospitality, saying county income-based valuations (RevPAR model) and the petitioner's own market valuation report provided no basis to reduce assessments.
The Elkhart County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals heard consolidated appeals from Norman Patel on Sept. 23, 2025 for four hotel properties and denied requests to lower the 2025 assessments after reviewing both the petitioner's market valuations and the county's income-based valuation model.
Patel told the board he commissioned market‑valuation reports and appraisals and emphasized that rising assessed values and higher interest rates made it difficult to maintain the properties. "The interest rate is the biggest problem we have," Patel said, adding that depreciation and rising tax burdens were straining hotel operations. He provided a short market report packet during the hearing and asked the board to consider lower values.
Tyler Miller and assessor staff described the county's hotel valuation approach: because hotels are income-producing, the assessor uses a revenue-per-available-room (RevPAR) calculation derived from Smith Travel Reports unless the owner supplies three years of confidential income statements. For the 2025 assessments the assessor applied a RevPAR of $52.40, calculated three ways (weighted contributory, average, median) and used the lowest result to derive the values.
The appealed 2025 assessments before the board were: AJ Hospitality — $5,207,100; Jai Shree Krishna — $4,470,700; KJ Hospitality — $4,786,300; NJ Hospitality — $4,418,100. Miller told the board the county had not been provided full income-and-expense statements for these properties and that the petitioner's two‑page market valuation summaries lacked the calculations and income approach the county uses.
At the conclusion of the testimony the board noted that the petitioner's submitted market valuation report itself stated, on its third page, "based on my research, there is no basis for a tax appeal on the subject property at this time." Citing that language, a motion was made to sustain each hotel's assessment. The motion carried; the board indicated that where petitioners supply full confidential income records the assessor will consider an income approach in future reviews.
Votes at a glance
- AJ Hospitality (2025 appeal): county assessed $5,207,100. Motion: sustain assessment. Outcome: approved (no change). - Jai Shree Krishna (2025 appeal): county assessed $4,470,700. Motion: sustain assessment. Outcome: approved (no change). - KJ Hospitality (2025 appeal): county assessed $4,786,300. Motion: sustain assessment. Outcome: approved (no change). - NJ Hospitality (2025 appeal): county assessed $4,418,100. Motion: sustain assessment. Outcome: approved (no change).
The board and assessor reiterated that owners may submit confidential income statements to permit a full income approach; income submissions are treated as confidential under the Indiana assessment process.
