The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance is operating without an in-house attorney, the agency confirmed this week, as counties begin implementing a property tax law passed in the last legislative session.
The department’s general counsel left the agency July 10. In response to written questions from Indy Politics, DLGF Commissioner Jason Cockerill said the department has hired a Deputy General Counsel who is scheduled to start in mid-August. Until then, he said, “attorneys within the OMB vertical are helping assist the DLGF as needed,” a reference to the Office of Management and Budget, under which the department sits.
Cockerill did not say whether the General Counsel position has been filled or posted. Asked how many attorneys are currently on the department’s staff, he did not provide a number.
DLGF issues the guidance county auditors and assessors rely on to apply property tax statutes, and certifies budgets, rates and levies for local units of government across the state. The department’s memos and bulletins translate legislative changes into instructions for county officials, most of whom are not attorneys.
The vacancy comes as counties work through HEA 1210, which makes several changes to Indiana property tax administration. The law changes the homestead false-claim provision from permissive to mandatory, directing county auditors to add a 10 percent fine to a notice of tax due. It converts the deduction for certain veterans into a credit, altering the calculation on affected parcels. And it moves a county data submission deadline from September 1 to July 1.
Several county auditors told Indy Politics they are waiting on departmental instruction on portions of the law and have not received it, and that counties are reaching their own conclusions in the meantime. Asked about those accounts, Cockerill said, “I have spoken with the DLGF field directors and I’m not aware of any backlog.”
Asked who is drafting the department’s HEA 1210 guidance and when counties should expect it, Cockerill pointed to guidance memos posted on the department’s website and to two Legislative Update webinars held June 17.
The memos addressing the session’s changes are dated May 22 and May 27. Those documents and the June 17 webinars all predate the general counsel’s July 10 departure. The department’s 2026 memo page does not list guidance issued since that date.
The timing overlaps with local budget season. Political subdivisions adopt budgets in the fall on statutory deadlines, and DLGF certifies the results. The mid-August start date for the incoming deputy falls within that window.
Counties applying the same statute differently can produce disparate tax treatment for similarly situated property owners, a result Indiana’s constitutional uniformity requirement is intended to prevent. Disputes over assessments and deductions are heard by the Indiana Board of Tax Review and, on appeal, the Indiana Tax Court. Cases arising from the 2026 and 2027 assessment cycles would not reach those bodies for a year or more.
The department did not say whether the Office of the Attorney General has any role in advising DLGF or reviewing its guidance.
