By ERIC MEYER

Staff writer

Here’s how to read notices all Marion County taxpayers should receive about their ad valorem (otherwise known as property) taxes.

The first section, labeled “Property Values,” shows how the value of your property has changed.

Property is assessed at various percentages of its appraised market value. Homes, for example, are assessed at 11.5%. Other types of property are assessed at higher percentages of their appraised value.

“Appraised” means what the government thinks your property is actually worth.

Taxes you paid this year were based on the “Prior Year Assessed” number. Taxes you will pay for the coming year are based on the “Current Year Assessed” number.

If your numbers increased from prior to current year, you will be paying more taxes even if the mill rate stays the same.

The second section, labeled “Current Year Tax Estimates,” shows how much you would pay this year if each entity taxing you adopted a budget designed to raise the same amount of money. That’s the column labeled “Tax” under “Revenue Neutral.”

The “Tax” column under “Proposed Budget” shows what you would pay under the budget now under consideration by that taxing unit.

Under “Difference,” you see a percentage (“Rate”) and an amount (“Tax”) indicating how much more you will pay if a budget that is not revenue neutral is adopted.

Add up all the items in the “Tax” column under “Difference,” and you’ll see how much more or less you will have to pay as a result of the proposed budgets your governmental units are considering adopting.

In the final section, under “Public Hearing Information,” you will see where and when to show up if you have questions or concerns about the budget information being proposed.

The form is not a bill. You will not receive a bill until much later, after budgets are adopted and final appraisal information is entered.

Under law, taxing units may not increase your tax amount beyond what is shown here unless your appraisal changes. However, they may decrease those amounts if prompted to do so during their budget and revenue-neutral hearings.

This notice is being issued to comply with a new state law designed to keep government spending in check.

Marion County notices cost the state $9,000 to mail this year. The state will continue to bear the cost next year. After that, the county will be allowed to bill each taxing unit for its portion of the mailing’s cost.