Rent won't decrease with the temperatures this year, Sen. AllieCraycraft, D-Selma, warned Monday.
Instead, students can expect another season of high rent, withreports of taxes on rental properties doubling or tripling inDelaware County, the senator said.
And that cost will have to trickle down to renters, Craycraftsaid.
"(In) many cases, they (owners) don't have many places to goexcept the renters," he said.
Dave Taylor, who works in real estate and serves on the citycouncil, said he heard some owners' taxes have quadrupled.
Craycraft will convene with his colleagues in the Senate todayat about 10:30 a.m., according to the Associated Press, to addressthe burgeoning property taxes.
The senators cannot reduce the taxes now, Craycraft said; theycan only delay payments or give people more time to appeal theirtaxes.
"We can't do this now, is what I'm saying," Craycraft said.
The House passed a similar bill at about 2:30 p.m. Friday, butRep. Tiny Adams, D-Muncie, could not be reached for comment.
Once the senate approves its bill, the two chambers will convenein a conference committee and approve one bill, but that won'thappen until after Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, some renters are paying up to $25 or $50 more a monthin rent, according to Sherri Riggin, a landlord and member of theEast Central Apartment Association.
Riggin does not rent to Ball State students; she said Gary Ricedid, but he could not be reached for comment.
The state's current peak in property taxes stems from a 1998Indiana Supreme Court case, in which the court agreed that allproperty taxes must be based on a fair market-value system.
Because of the ruling, Craycraft said, legislators could nolonger offer special credits to certain properties.
Craycraft said his taxes went up more than 100 percent.
The legislator is trying to amend the state's Constitution togive legislators more flexibility in determining property taxes.The amendment will go on the ballot in November.
Until then, he said, taxes won't be melting.
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