INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Changes in the property tax formula that would mean hefty tax increases for some Indiana farmers could be frozen for a fourth consecutive year.

State Sen. Jean Leising (R-Oldenburg) has offered an amendment to Senate Bill 205 delaying for another year the implementation of the proposed formula making productivity a factor in calculating the assessed value of farmland. The measure on Jan. 12 was taken out of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and reassigned to the Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy.

“This is the same as last year; just putting it on hold for another year,” said Andy Dietrick, a spokesman with Indiana Farm Bureau in Indianapolis.

The agriculture community will be keeping close tabs on the legislation as it winds its way through committee possibly for a vote by the full legislature sometime before the end of April, when the Indiana General Assembly session is scheduled to adjourn for the year.

The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (IDLGF) was about to impose the new property tax formula in 2012, but the legislature intervened with a three-year freeze on the changes. The idea was to give the IDLGF and Purdue University time to revise how property taxes are calculated for farmland in the 2012 formula.

Under the 2012 formula, productivity is still taken into account when assessing the value of farmland. But a farmer who squeezes out more crops per acre by going the extra mile with land management practices and technology, for example, could expect values and taxes to go up.

The farm community favors basing productivity on average land management practices, something that’s been in effect for the past 30 years or more. Dietrick said farmers under the new formula could see as much as a 40 percent hike in their property tax bills, which already have been going up 10-20 percent annually.

Another point of contention is that average crop prices the past five years would be a factor in the calculations, and now with prices being so low current farm income levels would not support taxes based on the period when prices were soaring.

“That’s just an unsustainable situation,” said Dietrick.

The formula would have meant a $57 million tax increase for Hoosier farmers when it first surfaced for consideration in 2012. “We’re glad the legislature is taking this seriously,” said Dietrick.

The request for another one-year delay has to gain enough support in both the House and Senate committees before it can be considered in the full legislature. State Rep. Tom Dermody (R-La Porte) supports the one-year extension but feels there’s a chance the legislature, if necessary, will prolong the delay on imposing the new tax formula for an even longer period.

Indeed, Gov. Mike Pence hinted at trying to find a more permanent solution when he spoke briefly on this issue at the inaugural Governor’s Agriculture Conference earlier this month. He said farmers deserve stability and a definite answer on the soil productivity tax issue.

“Our administration is committed to working with this General Assembly to resolve this issue once and for all,” he noted.

Dermody said revising a tax formula that satisfies everyone involved in the process is complicated and could require more time to hash out.

“It’s an important issue that can’t be ignored, because we need to support the agricultural industry,” said Dermody, who added the property tax hikes already experienced by farmers heightens the urgency in settling the matter.

“When we talk of these farmers who are supplying our food, it’s a difficult situation.  They’ve seen increase after increase, and I think it’s an issue we’d like to be addressed.”