On Tuesday night, Monroe County councilors enacted a change to local income tax rates that will not result in more money collected from taxpayers.
That’s because the only change is to shift one tax rate to another. But the impact of that shift will give the county about $425,000 a year in new money to spend on corrections.
How could the county council spend the money?
On Tuesday, councilor Marty Hawk pointed to some new mental health positions at the jail that have been requested by Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté for the 2024 budget.
Those positions total $507,000, Hawk said, but the additional flexibility given by the shift in LIT would go a long way towards covering them.
The council’s action on Tuesday did not increase the overall LIT rate. The council reduced by 0.01 percent the LIT rate in a category called the special purpose LIT. But the council imposed, for the first time, a rate in the corrections LIT by a corresponding 0.01 percent. Continue reading “Monroe County shifts local income tax rate by a smidgen, frees up money for jail health services”