There has been a need to put a third member on the Starke County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals (PTABOA) and the assessor may have found a solution.
One member of the PTABOA Board must be a county council appointment who must be a Level II or Level III assessor-appraiser and one the commissioners’ appointments must be a Level II or Level III assessor-appraiser. The third person can be another resident, but not all three members can be from the same political party.
Assessor Michelle Schouten said the third member is necessary in order to have a quorum. A quorum must include two members where one needs to be a Level II assessor-appraiser.
She mentioned that since there is an issue with gathering the third member they can waive the residency requirement and seek an out-of-county resident who could fit the Level II membership. Schouten did provide a list of potential members for the Starke County PTABOA Board.
Councilman Howard Bailey asked if all avenues were exhausted to find a member and Schouten affirmed that there has been an effort to find a member.
Schouten schedules about six meetings a year to hear appeals. With a change in the personal property mobile home assessments, there could be plenty of appeals heard this year. The Starke County Council members unanimously approved a motion to waive the residency requirement. Schouten said she’d return to the council once a member has been found for formal approval.
