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PETITIONERS APPEARING PRO SE: ANDREW BAKOS GLADYS BAKOS Hammond, IN

ATTORNEYS FOR RESPONDENT: STEVE CARTER ATTORNEY GENERAL OF INDIANA JOHN D. SNETHEN DAWN D. CUMMINGS JENNIFER E. GAUGER DEPUTY ATTORNEYS GENERAL Indianapolis, IN

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IN THE INDIANA TAX COURT
_____________________________________________________________________ ANDREW & GLADYS BAKOS, ) ) Petitioners, ) ) v. ) Cause No. 49T10-0412-TA-60 ) DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ) FINANCE, ) ) Respondent. ) _____________________________________________________________________ ORDER ON RESPONDENT'S MOTION TO DISMISS FOR PUBLICATION May 25, 2006 FISHER, J. Andrew and Gladys Bakos (the Bakoses) appeal the final determination of the Indiana Board of Tax Review (Indiana Board) that assessed their real property for the March 1, 2002 tax year (year at issue). The matter is currently before the Court on the Department of Local Government Finance's (DLGF) motion to dismiss. In its motion, the DLGF claims this Court lacks jurisdiction over the Bakoses' appeal. For the reasons stated below, the Court GRANTS the DLGF's motion.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY The Bakoses own a single-family residence in Lake County, Indiana. For the March 1, 2002 assessment date, the DLGF assessed the Bakoses' land at $20,200 and their improvement at $70,900. The Bakoses timely appealed to the Indiana Board, asserting that the DLGF erred in calculating the square footage of their home and that the home's assessed value was higher than comparable homes in the neighborhood. The Indiana Board issued a final determination on November 15, 2004. While the Indiana Board corrected the square footage of the improvement, it did not change the overall assessed value of the property. On December 24, 2004, the Bakoses initiated an original tax appeal. On

February 3, 2005, the Indiana Board filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, claiming that the Bakoses failed to name the DLGF as the proper party to the lawsuit. 1 After conducting a hearing on the Indiana Board's motion, the Court

issued an order on May 13, 2005, denying the motion. In its order, the Court held that the Bakoses had sufficiently named the DLGF as a party and the case should therefore be decided on its merits. On October 5, 2005, however, the parties filed an "Agreed Stipulation and Motion to Remand," which was subsequently granted. On November 4, 2005, after another administrative hearing, the Indiana Board issued a final determination again denying the Bakoses' request for relief.

Because the DLGF made the Bakoses' original property tax assessment, which was appealed to, and the subject of, the Indiana Board's final determination, the DLGF should have been a named respondent in the Bakoses' original tax appeal. See IND. CODE ANN.

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