At Wednesday night’s meeting of the Bloomington city council, the voting tally on the proposal to enact a quarter point increase to Monroe County’s income tax was 4–5.
Voting yes were Dave Rollo, Matt Flaherty, Kate Rosenbarger and Steve Volan.
Voting no were Ron Smith, Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Susan Sandberg, Sue Sgambelluri, and Jim Sims.
Based on the wording of the state statute, the proposal looks like it is dead and does not need to be forwarded to the other members of the tax council—the Monroe County council, the Ellettsville town council and the Stinesville town council.
That’s because Bloomington’s city council action on Wednesday was a resolution to propose an ordinance to the rest of the tax council.
The statute says, “To [present an ordinance to other members of the tax council for passage], the member must adopt a resolution to propose the ordinance to the local income tax council and distribute a copy of the proposed ordinance to the county auditor.” [IC-6-3.6-3-8]
Given that the vote on the resolution was 4–5, the Bloomington city council did not adopt a resolution proposing an ordinance to the other members of the council.
A question asked by The Square Beacon at the meeting during public commentary, to confirm that the other tax council members will not need to vote on the proposal, did not get a response.
Shortly after the meeting ended, a press release issued by the mayor’s office confirmed: “The ordinance will not be forwarded for consideration by the other members of the Monroe County Income Tax Council.”
The Square Beacon hopes to be able to report in more detail on the deliberations in a separate article.