Senate Enrolled Act 1 (SEA 1) is the so-called “property tax relief bill” that reduces individual homeowner property tax bills by a minor amount. It is continuing to cause problems for government entities across the state. Hamilton County is going through a recertification process for 2026 tax revenue coming from the net assessed value (NAV) of real estate.
The Reporter spoke to Hamilton County Auditor Todd Clevenger about the error, its cause, and the solution.
Clevenger
A critical component of this issue is that the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) had certified Hamilton County’s NAV, but the DLGF later came back to say there was an error and the DLGF should not have, in fact, certified the NAV.
The difference in Hamilton County tax revenue will be just under $625 million less than originally anticipated.
“It came to our attention that Hamilton County’s certified statement of net assessed values did not align with the new provisions under SEA 1,” Clevenger said. “Because of this, we must go through a recertification process.”
The error only involves properties with a NAV over $600,000. The DLGF first discovered that other counties had made the exact same error. When they found it elsewhere, the DLGF reached out to Hamilton County because this is a densely populated county with a large number of homes with values over $600,000.
An email from DLGF Budget Director Anna Culy to Clevenger on Sept. 11 reads, in part, “I was spot checking counties after noticing something in another CNAV I was reviewing. While doing this, it came to my attention that there might be some differences in the homestead and homestead supplemental calculation.”
SEA 1 is 345 pages and makes numerous changes to property taxes. Some of those changes are retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025, repealing some deductions for select people as of the Jan. 1 assessment date. That is just one example of how SEA 1 adds to the complexity of applying the law correctly in a short time.
Clevenger told The Reporter he and his team had to read the entirety of SEA 1 looking for changes that affect this county because the DLGF did not supply counties with a clear and complete summary of how the new law would affect them.
“I keep everything, but I couldn’t find anything,” Clevenger said. “DLGF is very good about sending explanatory emails, newsletters, or memos. I read the memo they sent us on SB 1 I couldn’t find this in there anywhere. I have since asked the state, ‘Can you tell me where the exact language is that you have told us we missed so I can find it to make sure that our people see it?’ I have not heard back. They just basically [passed SEA 1 and] said, ‘Here you go.’”
Once the error was discovered, Clevenger and his team corrected the error, notified all government entities in Hamilton County that would be impacted, and began the recertification process – all within a matter of days.
“Pursuant to IC 6-1.1-17-1, we have advertised a public hearing for Friday, Sept. 26 at 9 a.m. Following that hearing, we will submit the updated values to the State for approval, after which the CNAV process begins again,” Clevenger said.
That notice appears in today’s edition of The Reporter and was first published in our pages on Sept. 16. After that meeting, the Auditor’s office will submit updated numbers to the state for recertification.
Recertification is not uncommon. According to Clevenger, 19 counties, including Hamilton, went through recertification just last year.
As soon as the error was discovered, Clevenger told local government units they would have corrected NAV numbers on Tuesday, Sept. 23, before the upcoming public hearing. His office had them distributed a full week early, sending them on Sept. 16.
“I’m not trying to hide anything,” Clevenger told The Reporter. “It was a mistake. SEA 1 is 345 pages long and we missed it. We’ve already redone the numbers and sent it back to all the local government units.”
Clevenger answered this newspaper’s first call to him about the issue, took immediate responsibility, and supplied numerous documents detailing the facts.
