Cleveland-Cliffs gets a settlement for lower tax assessments

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has reached a settlement aimed at reducing the size of a proposed increase in tax assessments at its multimillion-dollar steel facilities in Porter and Lake counties.

The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance revealed the deal Jan. 14 with the steelmaker, before Cleveland-Cliffs’ appeal could be heard by the Indiana Tax Review Board.

Property tax collection is based on tax assessment. As a result, Porter and Lake County government entities will receive a lower increase due to the tax reduction.

Cleveland-Cliffs challenged the proposed 13.5 percent tax assessment increase, from $118 million to $134 million, for its Porter County operations, centered in Burns Harbor. The settlement amount is $121 million, an increase of 2.5%.

The steelmaker also took issue with the 6.1 percent increase in its holdings in Lake County, surrounding the city of East Chicago, to $121 million from $114 million. The compromise will bring the valuation to $116 million, an increase of 1.7%.

Taxes are paid the following year based on the previous year’s valuation.

Porter County Assessor Sue Neff and Lake County Assessor Latonya Spearman learned of the decision last week.

“I think we were both extremely disappointed to learn that these settlement discussions had taken place without our participation,” Spearman said.

Neff said she believes the Indiana Tax Review Board must ratify the agreement, but that is usually a formality.

The steelmaker’s East Chicago operations brought in $3,498,579 in tax revenue for Lake County in 2025. With a smaller assessment, Lake County will receive only $60,000 more instead of $210,000, according to the Lake County Auditor’s Office.

Porter County had calculated it would receive $348,000 more in the initial assessment, but that amount was reduced to about $70,000. Porter County collected $2.6 million in taxes in 2025 from Cleveland-Cliffs, according to statistics from the Porter County Auditor.

The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance has set the value of Cleveland-Cliffs properties. The state agency is responsible for ensuring that property tax assessment and local government budgeting are conducted in accordance with Indiana law.

While the state agency was responsible for defending its assessment, Neff and Spearman wanted to make sure their counties’ interests were represented.

Neff had attended a Burns Harbor City Council meeting in June, asking that the city support his efforts to hire an expert appraiser who could help him present evidence to support the appraisal of the Cleveland-Cliffs property. She said it was believed that traditionally steel mill valuation undervalued the property.

But Porter and Lake counties never got a chance to present their case.

Spearman said the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance “acted within its rights and authority.”

In the future, however, Spearman said she would like to see the state Legislature give more power to county tax assessors in situations like this.

Cleveland-Cliffs did not return a message seeking comment.

Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.