This update focuses on how the 2010 property tax caps will impact Indiana's city and town municipal government.
The key points include the following:
* The 2010 property tax caps will have NO significant impact on essential service delivery by the great majority of Indiana's 566 cities and towns.
* Anyone who uses property tax caps in Indiana to justify the imposition of a LOIT Tax is making or intentionally misleading you.
* The constitutional property tax caps in Senate Joint Resolution 1 must be passed to make unconstitutional any Distressed Unit Appeals Board decision that would bypass a local taxing unit's property tax caps.
Indiana Legislative Services Agency has estimated the impact of the 2010 property tax caps on all local government units that impose a property tax. The LSA estimates compare the caps impact only to those budgeted funds that receive revenue wholly or partly from property tax levies. The full effect of the 1%-2%-3% property tax caps will first be felt in 2010- they will be phased in at a 1.5%-2.5%-3.5% level in 2009.
Indiana has 566 city and town municipal government. The great majority of cities and towns- 450 or 79.5% - will have their budged funds that include property tax levies impacted 5.0% or less by the 2010 property tax caps.
The remaining cities and towns will have their 2010 property tax funds impacted 5.1% or more: 84 cities and towns will have 5.1% to 10.0% less for their budgets, 25 cities and towns will have 10.1% to 15.0% less, and 7 cities and towns rely so much on high property taxes that their budgets will impact 15.1% or more.
Anyone familiar with their local government spending knows that a 5% reduction will have NO impact on essential service delivery. That is exactly where New Albany's at with a 5% reduction.
Tell Mr. Mayor and Shane Gibson they are both full of crap, if they tell you anything different!
