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Petitioner challenges 2025 Elkhart County assessment after 10% jump
Summary
Justin Bertacan told the Elkhart County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals that his 2025 assessment jumped about 10% from 2024 and asked the board to reconsider measurement and market-value adjustments; the assessor said data corrections and standard county depreciation rules explain the change and the board took no final vote at the hearing.
Mike Settles, a member of the Elkhart County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals, opened the administrative hearing under Indiana Code 6-1.1-1-1 and invited petitioner Justin Bertacan to present his case.
Petitioner Justin Bertacan said he subdivided an original purchase during the pandemic to create a hobby farm and that much of the original 10-acre purchase had been split off. He told the board that one parcel’s assessment rose by $43,500 — roughly a 10% increase from 2024 to 2025 — while a different property he owns in the county rose about 4.7%.
"So asking me what do I think my value is ... I'm saying, yes. I get it. My assessed value should go up, but why would it want to go up 43,500, which is a 10% increase from 2024 to 2025, when my other property had a 4.7% increase," Bertacan said.
Tyler Miller, representing the assessor’s office, presented the office’s exhibits and explained the corrections that changed the living‑space and garage measurements. Miller said the corrected card reduced the property’s assessment from $445,500 to $432,900 and described why certain comparable sales were given limited weight.
"In the assessment world ... we have either data items [to correct] because you can lay tape to it, or market value and use," Miller said, noting that a prior 2024 settlement figure reflected nonsubjective data corrections rather than current market value.
Miller also illustrated a land-value exercise comparing the petitioner’s 2021 appraisal to the assessor’s 2025 land-rate order (about $10,500 per acre) and said the assessor had “exhausted every method in order to arrive at a substantiated value.”
Board members asked clarifying questions about the relationship between data corrections, trending and market-value adjustments. The petitioner reiterated his view that the parcel subject to this appeal should not have increased at the same rate as his other property.
The hearing concluded without an on-the-spot final determination; Settles told Bertacan he would be notified of the board’s decision by mail.
What happens next: The board will issue its determination in writing; the petitioner will receive the decision by mail and any adjustment to installments will be processed by the assessor’s office if the board orders a change.
