Property Taxes

Property taxes are the primary source of funding for local government in Indiana. The 2021 budget order shows that Porter County’s taxing units in total were given approval to levy approximately $236.5 million in property taxes.

This page gives a general outline of property taxes. The links to the left provide more details on topics such as tax rates and deductions.

How Are Tax Bills Determined?

The County Auditor, Assessor, and Treasurer work closely together in the assessment-to-tax billing process. The process includes the following steps:

• The county auditor’s office maintains parcel numbers for each taxable property.
• The county and township assessors assign an assessed value to properties.
• The county assessor and the county auditor balance these values by July 1.
• The county auditor certifies the net assessed values by August 1.
• Taxing units conduct public hearings on their proposed budgets and adopt their budgets by Nov. 1.
• The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) reviews the budgets, certifies the tax rates and issues budget orders.
• The county auditor prepares the tax abstract needed to prepare tax bills.
• The county treasurer prints and mails out the tax bills, with the first installment typically due May 10.
• After the treasurer certifies the collections, the county auditor computes the distribution of tax revenue to each taxing unit by June 30. (Another tax distribution occurs after the fall tax collection).

The DLGF keeps track of each county’s progress in the assessment to tax billing process. Check out the statewide budget status map.