Thirteen residents
attended the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance’s hearing
Thursday morning to remonstrate against the Porter County Commissioners’
action to reestablish the capital cumulative development (CCD) fund at the
maximum rate of .0233 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
However, only about
half of the attendees actually spoke out about the proposed increase.
Some accused County
officials of ‘mismanaging” funds and are now seeking a tax increase because
of it. Others said they don’t want the money spent on “benefits” for county
employees. Most complained about seeing their property taxes spike over the
last year.
“We’ve got to stop
tax increase after tax increase,” said Jackson Twp. resident Frank Howard.
In attendance,
County Commissioner President John Evans, R-North, said the CCD rate’s
adjustment passed by his board was not to increase property taxes as some of
those opposed had surmised but simply to move $825,000 from the General Fund
to the “more appropriate” CCD fund to pay for power, water and sewage
expenses.
“This will free up
that (money) in the General Fund to help the County Council manage the
budget shortfall,” Evans said.
The Commissioners
in July approved a new ordinance to raise the rate from 1.89 cents to .2333
cents, an effort which stemmed from a suggestion in a report by H.J. Umbaugh
and Associates that the move could help the County balance the general fund
as property tax caps come in to play.
Evans said if the
rate is increased by four-tenths of a cent, a home with an assessed
valuation of $150,000 and standard deductions would pay an additional 25
cents per month, or three dollars a year. “The impact on taxpayers should be
negligible,” he said.
Timed with the
County paying off its bonds for the Juvenile Center, there shouldn’t be any
effects to anyone’s property taxes, Evans added.
Bob Clifford of
Umbaugh said that because of the tax caps and the recession, reconfiguring
the CCD rate would be “a prudent thing to do.”
Meanwhile, others
from the floor mentioned news stories they had seen about other proposed
increases like the new $10 per month stormwater fee for the unincorporated
areas of the county.
Valparaiso resident
Darrel Korth said tax increases have a detrimental effect on people with
fixed incomes and County government officials should “take a good hard look
at themselves in the mirror” when considering these tax hikes. “Enough is
enough,” he said.
Although not
related to the CCD fund, Center Twp. resident Betty Williams said the recent
argument over whether to use money from the sale of the former County
hospital did not sit well with her. “That money belongs to us, the
taxpayers.”
After hearing
Evans’ comments, Howard thanked Evans for doing what he could to “keep the
County straight” but suggested the study done by Umbaugh should have looked
at solutions other than increasing tax rates.
“We’ve got to be
more efficient with the money we have,” Howard said.
Kurt Ott of the
DLGF, who conducted the hearing, said the General Counsel for DLGF will take
under consideration the views expressed and will return a decision within 30
days of whether to approve the proposed changes to the CCD rate.
A public hearing
was required because over 50 local taxpayers signed a petition of
remonstration against the rate increase in the County Auditor’s office.
Evans said the new
ordinance designates that $2.5 million of CCD funds can be used on
maintenance and repair of county buildings, $800,000 for roads and
right-of-ways, $300,000 for police vehicles and $275,000 for purchasing ITS
equipment.