From: Terry Marbach
Columbus
“Putting taxpayers first.” This is how Milo Smith does it for himself. On March 30, 2021, he appeared before the Bartholomew County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals (PTABOA) to appeal the assessment on a 2.7-acre lot owned by Mr. Smith near Harrison Lake.
The lot was assessed as a residential lot with a $97,300 valuation and the property taxes he paid in 2021 were $1,648. He requested that the property assessment be changed from a residential lot to agricultural use and the land be changed to woodland. His argument was that he had contacted a consultant forester, Clark Fleming, in September of 2020, and that the consultant had given him “ideas and guidelines on what he would need to do to grow and harvest hard wood timber”.
Per the minutes of the PTABOA, “Mr. Smith presented the board with a copy of a letter from Mr. Fleming stating such”. Mr. Smith said “his intent for this parcel is to promote the growth of hardwood timber for future harvest”.
His request was granted by the Board of Appeals. As a result in 2022 he paid $ 5 in property taxes on the revised agricultural land assessed value of $300.
By late summer 2021, Mr. Smith had apparently grown tired of waiting for the trees to grow and he listed it for sale with a Realtor per the Realtor.com website. The Realtor’s description said the property was a “Great lot for building your dream home. Wonderful view of the North Lake and the Country Club Clubhouse.” The original asking price of $325,000 was later reduced to $229,000. It remained on the market for many months with a Realtor sign on the edge of the property.
Agricultural land for trees to grow on, and assessed as such, suddenly became a residential lot for sale.
So the question is, “Did Mr. Smith really intend to have the property growing trees for future harvest or was he simply being deceitful in his pleading to the Appeals Board so that he would pay less in property tax?” His actions would say the latter, and one could argue that he lied to the Appeals Board.
Does such deceit/lying fit the word “integrity,” which a letter to the editor on April 8 ascribed to Mr. Smith? Methinks not. Mr. Smith did not do the right thing when he thought nobody was looking, which the writer claimed people with integrity do.
A final thought: Remember that every time someone pays less property tax than they should have, the rest of us pay more than we should!
Editor’s note: This letter is paid political content. Political endorsement letters during campaign seasons are published with a $25 fee. They may be submitted to [email protected].
