Porter County Auditor

01/01/2023

It's been an incredible honor serving as Porter County Auditor these past eight years. From the bottom of my heart, I thank the voters of Porter County for this wonderful opportunity. The Auditor's Office staff is dedicated and hard-working. What a joy it's been to work with such a fine group of public servants. We laughed, we cried, we worked hard and accomplished so much for our taxpayers. May you all have a safe, happy, and fulfilling New Year! Thank you!

12/31/2022

We are very pleased to announce that today we returned to the County General Fund $182,770 from our homestead compliance efforts. Our deposit helped the General Fund end the year with its best ending balance in years of more than $11.7 million.

The County General Fund truly is a success story, one in which our office played a critical role. The chart shown here tells the story: A strong balance about 10 years ago eroded to dangerous levels. It took years to build back. The current healthy balance does not mean county government has money to spend unchecked. Rather, it means that with continued oversight, General Fund budgets can grow responsibly even if revenues slip or emergencies arise. Our General Fund should remain in very good shape for years to come.

The first photo shows me presenting our homestead compliance check to County Treasurer Michelle Clancy as we closed out the year today. Our office restructured our homestead program in recent years, resulting in new cases and recouped taxes. A state law requires that we return the proceeds to the General Fund after they reach a certain threshold. My thanks to staff members Arleen, Toni, and Pam for their role in today's deposit.

We are very pleased that our efforts enforcing homestead deduction compliance has helped the General Fund end 2022 on such a positive note.

12/29/2022

We celebrated a birthday today in the Porter County Auditor's office. Happy birthday, Elaine!

12/25/2022

A holiday video greeting from the Porter County Auditor's office!

12/24/2022

From all of us in the Porter County Auditor's Office, may you and yours have a Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season!

12/22/2022

Auditor's Office Christmas party: Great company, food, games, gifts, laughter (and maybe a few tears as well ❤). We still kept busy though: Last payroll of the year, loads of deduction filings, and happy kids with treat bags!

12/19/2022

Christmas week is here,
Our staff is full of cheer!
Decorations are all done,
Office party will be loads of fun!
Treat bags are ready for kids' consumption,
And we're super busy with year-end deductions!

12/16/2022

Fall Settlement! This past week, our office worked on fall settlement, and today we received state approval, clearing the way for us to distribute $129.8 million in property taxes, excise taxes, assessments, and other collections to local taxing units. Porter County's schools, municipalities, libraries, townships, and others will see their tax collections in their accounts early next week.

The photos here show our settlement team members Chief Deputy Toni Downing, Budget and Finance Director Tiffany Johnson, and myself with settlement forms. The first photo shows our final, 2022 settlement with the distribution reports we individually email taxing units. The second photo is of our first fall settlement in December, 2015. Note the large spreadsheet in the 2015 photo. Those were the days when the Auditor of State's office sent the approved settlement form on oversized paper. Now, this form and others are retained in digital format.

12/11/2022

Check out the festive snowflakes decorated by various county offices in the hallways of the County Administration Center. Our Auditor's Office entry was a group effort, with various employees contributing something to share or decorate with our upcycled wreath!

12/09/2022

Thank you, AIC! It has been an absolute honor to represent Porter County while serving on the AIC Board these past two years. You are an outstanding organization that helps strengthen county governments throughout the state!

12/07/2022

The Porter County Commissioners and the Porter County Council both held their last meetings of the year on Tuesday, Dec. 6. Thank you to both of our governing boards for your heartfelt comments and well wishes as we start to wrap up the year. The cooperation between the offices of the Commissioners, Council, and Auditor's in the past eight years has been significant, resulting in solid accomplishments. To name just a few examples: Prudent management of county funds, including the General Fund, to recover from near-crisis mode and achieve sustainability; numerous county building projects while maintaining just one (and nearly paid off) property-tax supported bond; a county timekeeping system that enhances accountability; and new initiatives and expanded departments while maintaining the lowest county local income tax rate (0.5%) in Indiana.

12/06/2022

We celebrated a birthday today in the Porter County Auditor's office. Happy birthday, Arleen!

12/04/2022

Meet two of our valued employees: Real estate tax deputies Elaine and Pam! If you come to our office for deductions, deeds, tax bill questions, or anything else, Elaine and Pam will be there to assist. They are friendly, helpful, and highly skilled! Both were recognized for their contributions to our office at our December staff meeting, during which we revived our "Valued Employee" program. Each quarter during the years 2015-2018, we honored one of our staff members for their hard work in helping to make the Porter County Auditor's Office shine. To make it more fun, each Valued Employee was randomly selected, with the announcement kept secret until the end of our staff meetings. Pam and Elaine joined our team later, so at this month's meeting, we ended on a surprise note by picking up where we left off in late 2018: Thank you, Elaine and Pam, for all you do on behalf of Porter County taxpayers and in making our Auditor's Office the best it can be!

12/02/2022

I'm very pleased to announce that our chief deputy, Toni Downing, is the newest member of the Porter County Park Board. With a background that includes hospitality, Toni has a passion for a vibrant and successful county parks system. With her financial expertise and budgetary skills, she will be a great addition to the county park board!

11/30/2022

Busy, busy, busy! Our office is always busy, but this week in particular we are all working on projects that will come to realization next week and beyond. A sneak peak:
--Poll worker pay AND employee longevity pay with next week's regular payroll!
--A multitude of ARPA agreements for the Commissioners' approval on Dec. 6. (Personal note: What a joy it's been to work with so many of our great non-profits!)
--Salary ordinance incorporating the results of the county's recent wage study, a significant project that our office has been diligently working on in these past few weeks and one that will greatly benefit many county employees, especially those deemed below the parity level.
Stay tuned for updates on the above!

11/24/2022

From all of us in the Porter County Auditor's office, we wish you and yours a joyful Thanksgiving!

11/23/2022

We celebrated a birthday today in the Porter County Auditor's office. Happy birthday, Judy!

11/16/2022

Porter County has received its first distribution of $50,000 from a program in the American Rescue Plan Act known as the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund. The application process to U.S. Treasury was smooth, and the turnaround was quick!

We are among the 30-plus counties in Indiana to receive this federal aid due to the fact we have a national park and participate in the federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes program.

Program recipients with questions about reporting, technical issues, eligible uses of funds, or other items click here for self-service resources. Self-Service Resources The American Rescue Plan appropriated $2 billion to Treasury across fiscal years 2022 and 2023 to provide payments to eligible rev...

11/15/2022

We celebrated a birthday today in the Porter County Auditor's office. Happy birthday, Mariline!

11/12/2022

Here's another scene of how Porter County government is participating in Operation Green Light this week: The Memorial Opera House campus is illuminated in green in appreciation of veterans!

11/11/2022

In honor of all veterans, we thank you for your service!

11/07/2022

Thank you, AIC! (Photos: Porter County Administration building illuminated in green; Porter County Auditor's Office real estate tax deputies who assist with veterans deductions; Porter County Veterans Service Office staff who assist veterans in a myriad of ways; our poster with the Memorial Opera House, a Civil War memorial.)

11/05/2022

As part of Operation Green Light, the Porter County Auditor's office compiled a listing of the programs and benefits our county government offers for veterans. We are so pleased to share our flier, which we hope will assist our county's veterans!

11/04/2022

We celebrated a birthday today in the Porter County Auditor's office. Happy birthday, Danielle!

11/04/2022

We had an outstanding turnout at today's workshop, "Porter County's ARPA Plan: Where Do We Go From Here?" My team and I sincerely thank the many representatives from non-profit groups, townships, and the County Library System for attending. Over the coming weeks, our office will be diligently working with more than 30 grantees on agreements and building audit files focusing on compliance. Millions of dollars of federal funds made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act will soon be expended on a wide array of projects -- ranging from day care centers to emergency response training to housing and more -- that will have long-lasting, positive impacts in Porter County!

11/02/2022

This is a big week for Porter County's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) project:
--On Monday, our office completed and submitted the third quarter "Project and Expenditure" required report to U.S. Treasury.
--On Tuesday, the Porter County Commissioners gave first-reading approval to add seven more projects to the county's ARPA plan: the Memorial Opera House renovation, employee stipends, road funding, insurance, SWAT vehicle, veterans outreach, and county parks.
--On Thursday, our office will host an informational session geared toward non-profits and other local government entities that have been awarded a share of the county's grant.
Check out our COVID-19 Federal Funding page, and the various subpages, for many, many details on Porter County's ARPA project!
https://www.porterco.org/1718/COVID-Federal-Funding-ARPA-CARES-Act

10/31/2022

Our office celebrated Halloween today with fun costumes, treat bags for the kids, and a frightful but delicious carry-in lunch!

10/30/2022

Our office teamed up with the Memorial Opera House to produce a promotional poster and flier about Operation Green Light, a nationwide initiative called to show support for veterans and the governmental programs available for veterans and their families. During Nov. 7-13, Porter County government will participate in Operation Green Light by illuminating county buildings and offices in green lights. You can read more about the initiative in this recent article in Valpo.Life.

As part of the upcoming Veterans Day, Porter County will participate in Operation Green Light, a national initiative to support veterans and to raise awareness of resources available at the county,...

10/26/2022

Updated: Porter County government's 2023 adopted budgets are now all online, following the Oct. 18 approval by the Porter County Council. As we have done in prior years, our office prepared two budget documents in an easy-to-read format with the 2023 and 2022 line item amounts for General Fund budgets and all non-General Fund budgets. Visit the County Auditor's "Budget and Finance" page on our website to view the budget reports. The public can also view the budgets through the state's Gateway site. A shout-out to our incredible Auditor staff members who diligently worked over the past two months compiling the budget data, including implementation of the just-completed wage study. The budgets will now go through a state review before they are finalized.

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10/19/2022

Another successful Tax Sale! This week, the Porter County Auditor's and Treasurer's offices conducted the county's annual tax sale. The sale resulted in the collection of $1,149,043, bringing these parcels up to date in their tax obligations. Some statistics from the sale:
--A total of 657 parcels were certified for this year's tax sale.
--To remove their property from the sale, the owners of 304 parcels paid their tax obligations prior to Tuesday's event.
--At the sale, successful bidders acquired a lien on an additional 83 parcels.
--Of the 247 parcels not sold, the Porter County Commissioners hold a tax lien and may offer these properties to the public at a certificate sale at a later date.