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ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANTS Steven K. Emery Kevin A. Halloran Bloomington, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEES David B. Shilling William K. Steger Bloomington, Indiana

In the

Indiana Supreme Court
_________________________________ No. 53S00-0508-CV-384 ALPHA PSI CHAPTER OF PI KAPPA PHI FRATERNITY, INC., LAMBDA CORPORATION, AND DELTA ALPHA OF ALPHA TAU OMEGA, INC., Appellants (Defendants below), v. AUDITOR OF MONROE COUNTY AND COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, Appellees (Plaintiffs below). _________________________________ Appeal from the Monroe Circuit Court, No. 53C04-0309-PL-1678 The Honorable Mary Ellen Diekhoff, Judge _________________________________ June 29, 2006

Shepard, Chief Justice.

The Indiana Constitution prohibits special laws which grant privileges to a few people that are not available to others. The statutory amendment in this case exempted three taxpayers, after the fact, from tax deadlines applicable to everyone else. The trial court was right to uphold the Constitution.

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Facts and Procedural History

The Alpha Psi Chapter of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, Inc., Lamdba Corporation, and Delta Alpha of Alpha Tau Omega, Inc. (hereinafter "taxpayers") each failed to file timely applications for property tax exemptions for their property in Monroe County. 1 Their failure to do so resulted in the assessment of property tax against their real estate in 2000 and 2001, with the tax due and payable in 2001 and 2002 respectively. During its 2003 session, the Indiana General Assembly passed Public Law 256-2003. 2 2003 Ind. Acts 2603. Section 44 of the act retroactively provided what amounted to a filing extension that permitted the taxpayers to apply for their 2000 and 2001 property tax exemptions in 2004 and required the county auditor to grant those exemptions. 2003 Ind. Acts 2653. In relevant part, Section 44 provides: (a) This SECTION applies to property that: (1) is used for a fraternity for students attending Indiana University; (2) is owned by a nonprofit corporation that was previously determined by the auditor of the county in which the property is located to be eligible to receive a property tax exemption . . . (3) is not eligible for the property tax exemption . . . for property taxes due and payable in 2001 or 2002 because the nonprofit corporation failed to timely file an application . . . . (b) . . . [T]he auditor of the county in which the property described in subsection (a) is located shall: (1) waive noncompliance with the timely filing requirement for the exemption application in question; and (2) grant the appropriate exemption. (c) A property tax exemption granted under this SECTION applies to: (1) property taxes first due and payable in 2001; and (2) property taxes first due and payable in 2002. Id.

See IND. CODE ANN.

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