Assessor: County must trigger state review after solar companies missed personal-property filings

Sullivan County Assessor Michelle Bedwell told the county council she has identified gaps in personal-property filings for certain solar projects and that the county needs to notify the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) to obtain required submissions.

Bedwell said some companies — discussed during redevelopment reviews as Fairbanks Solar and others — have not filed personal-property returns the state distributes, which prevents the state from assigning the county its share for distribution. She explained the assessor’s office handles real-property assessments (land and parcels) while business personal property that spans counties or is reported by state distributors flows through the state process.

Council members and redevelopment staff cited a May 15 filing deadline and said Baker Tilly (a consultant) reported a missing personal-property filing for one project; council members pressed for a process to pursue missed filings and potential penalties. Bedwell said her first step would be to contact the county’s DLGF representative to get direction and the necessary address/location information so the state can assign the filings.

The council also discussed abatement timing: the tax abatement for a solar project typically does not start until production begins, so panels installed before the abatement activation could generate a small, short-term personal-property tax obligation. Bedwell said whether a payment is owed for a given year depends on the installation date relative to the January 1 assessment date and the abatement start.

Bedwell said she would follow up with the DLGF representative and work with redevelopment and auditing staff to identify any missed years and next steps. The council urged a proactive approach so the county can collect revenue it believes is due.