Vigo County staff probe why Prairie Creek Conservancy special assessment wasn't charged on dozens of parcels

Larry Hutchings, Vigo County auditor, convened county staff and representatives of the Prairie Creek Conservancy District to review a preliminary parcel audit that showed dozens of properties inside the district are not being assessed the district's special benefit tax.

"We picked up a couple of them that were not being assessed," Mars Harlan, secretary of the Prairie Creek Conservancy District, told county staff, naming major sites including Steel Dynamics, Staples and ThyssenKrupp and asking whether those parcels appear on the district's tax rolls.

Scott, a county staff member who presented maps, said the district boundary contains 1,416 parcels and that an initial comparison of parcel account numbers against the auditor's levy records highlighted 84 parcels that currently do not show the conservancy assessment. "There are 1416 parcels in this district," he said while walking through the map and the flagged parcels.

County Assessor Kevin Gardner cautioned that some parcels owned by government entities cannot be charged in the same way as private parcels, saying, "you cannot pay a tax with a tax." Staff also noted several industrial properties are under tax abatement, and attendees agreed the exact abatement language must be reviewed to determine whether the conservancy charge remains due under those agreements.

Bonnie from the auditor's office said spot checks of parcel histories going back to the 2010 pay 2011 transition showed the conservancy charge has not been assessed on those parcels since the office converted from the old MVP system to LAO. "They have not been taxed ... for the special tax of conservancy," she said, identifying the system conversion as a likely source of the omission.

County staff and conservancy representatives discussed technical reasons some flagged parcels might be excluded from typical assessment (state highway strips or rail right-of-way parcels that do not function as ordinary taxable sites). Scott noted that accounting for rights-of-way and state-owned parcels could reduce the number requiring follow-up.

Staff cited the Indiana Conservancy Act and DNR guidance to describe the legal basis for a special benefit tax that funds levee, reservoir and channel maintenance; the group emphasized this meeting was informational and that a legal review will be needed to apply charges correctly.

Officials agreed on next steps: county staff will review the list of flagged parcels and corresponding abatement orders, check county or redevelopment-commission ownership, seek a legal description or metes-and-bounds for the district boundary, consult the county surveyor's association about how government-owned watershed parcels are treated, and share findings with the Prairie Creek Conservancy District. County staff said they would follow up with conservancy leaders and expected more information in the coming weeks.

The meeting recessed after the work assignments were summarized and contact details were exchanged.