St. Joseph County barters public record access for Realtor’s data
Indiana’s move to market value as the basis for property taxation has changed the county assessor’s job significantly. In the near future, property values for tax purposes will be required to keep up with trends in the local real estate market. One Indiana’s County has struck a deal in anticipation of that requirement:
The information-sharing agreement has been in the works for several weeks. In February, the commissioners approved a contract with Plexis, an Indianapolis company, to create a computer program that gives Realtors direct access to property tax files.
Those files are and have been public records available to anyone. The computer program simply makes getting access more convenient for Realtors, who will be able to get the information from their computers.
In return, the County Assessor’s office and assessors in Portage, Penn and Clay townships will get access to the Realtors’ multiple listing service records and be able to use that information to update property valuations on an annual basis.
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