Tag: local income tax

Monroe County council heads towards goal of 8.5-percent raises for employees in 2024

Marty Hawk and Geoff McKim. Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)
Kate Wiltz and Trent Deckard. Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)
From left: Marty Hawk, Geoff McKim, Kate Wiltz, Trent Deckard, and Peter Iversen. (Cheryl Munson attended on Zoom.) Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)
Bottom to top: Cathy Smith (auditor), Brianne Gregory, Molly Turner-King, and Kim Shell. Monroe County council (Sept. 20, 2023)

Based on the deliberations among county councilors on Wednesday night, Monroe County employees will likely receive 8.5-percent raises in 2024 compared to their pay this year.

But no final decisions were made. The council did undertake some adjustments to get closer to the goal of 8.5-percent raises.

There’s still some dust that needs to settle on the provisional adjustments to the 2024 budget that were made by the council on Wednesday. And the final vote on the budget won’t come until Oct. 17, after a first reading on Oct.10.

The formal public hearing on the county budget is about weeks away, on Oct. 3. Continue reading “Monroe County council heads towards goal of 8.5-percent raises for employees in 2024” →

Monroe County shifts local income tax rate by a smidgen, frees up money for jail health services

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” →

Monroe County council looks at boosting employee pay in 2024: “We have our work cut out for us.”

Monroe County council (Aug. 22, 2023)
Monroe County council (Aug. 22, 2023)
Monroe County council (Aug. 22, 2023)

On Tuesday night, Monroe County councilors opened a discussion about next year’s salary increase for county employees.

A starting point for that discussion is 6 percent. No decisions were made on Tuesday. The county’s budget process will unfold over the course of a couple of weeks starting Sept. 6.

The 6-percent number is based on the December 2021 to December 2022 consumer price index increase (CPI) for the Midwest region, as calculated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. That figure has long been used by the county council as a reference point for pay increases.

As the fiscal body for county government, it’s the county council that makes the final decision on the budget. Continue reading “Monroe County council looks at boosting employee pay in 2024: “We have our work cut out for us.”” →

Budget notebook: Monroe County mulls shift, not increase in local income tax

Monroe County councilor Marty Hawk
Table of local income taxes in different cateogories
Monroe County councilor Geoff McKim

If Monroe County councilors stay on the course they have now charted out, they could have around $100,000 more to spend on jail operations for the final quarter of this year.

It would also mean in subsequent years about $424,000 more to spend each year to support the county jail.

The council’s vote on Tuesday night was just to direct the county staff to move forward with all necessary means to advertise holding the first reading of a change to the local income tax (LIT), at the “earliest possible possible time,” while following all the direction of state officials.

But the plan is not to increase the LIT—at least not right now. That could come later, once the site of a new jail is selected, its square footage is determined, and its construction cost is dialed in.

For now, the county council is just looking to shift one category of local income tax to another. The idea is to reduce by 0.01 percent the LIT in a category called the special purpose LIT, but to impose, for the first time, a rate in the corrections LIT by a corresponding 0.01 percent.

That would leave the overall rate paid by taxpayers at 2.0350 percent, the same as it is now.

Councilors Geoff McKim and Marty Hawk have been working on the proposal to shift the LIT rates to make more money available for jail operations. Continue reading “Budget notebook: Monroe County mulls shift, not increase in local income tax” →

Bloomington 2024 budget notebook: Tax revenue

On Aug. 28, about three weeks from now, Bloomington’s city council will start a four-day slog through presentations from department heads, about their proposed budgets for 2024.

In 2023, Bloomington’s budget totaled about $129 million—that’s not counting the budget for city of Bloomington utilities (CBU) or Bloomington Transit.

In the past couple of weeks, the tax revenue picture has come into clearer focus.

Property tax revenue will go up by exactly 4 percent. Local income tax revenue will go up by about 3.64 percent. Continue reading “Bloomington 2024 budget notebook: Tax revenue” →

Finance committee for new Monroe County jail set to take up topic of diversion

“What investments can the county council make for community services to reduce the number of community members entering the justice system?”

DLZ has reviewed four potential sites for building a new Monroe County jail, including the Hopewell neighborhood, the county-owned Thomson PUD, and two unspecified sites somewhere in the I-69 corridor

That’s the question at the center of the agenda  for Monday’s meeting of Monroe County’s justice fiscal advisory committee (JFAC).

The meeting makes up for the one that was blown off the schedule by the windstorm that struck the county a month ago.

When the county council created the JFAC in May, the council’s resolution set a September timeframe as the target for delivering a report to the full council.

The report is supposed to make recommendations on priorities for funding of mental health, substance abuse treatment, and a new correctional facility.

JFAC is also supposed to give guidance on investments to prevent individuals from entering the justice system, reducing recidivism, and promotion of equity. JFAC is also supposed to establish timelines for implementation.

The committee’s report is also supposed to identify funding sources within permissible uses of tax revenues. Continue reading “Finance committee for new Monroe County jail set to take up topic of diversion” →

2024 local govt budget season kickoff: Draft plan for Bloomington Transit includes $12M for land purchase

BT’s Grimes Lane facility is outlined in red. The image is oriented with west at the top. It is taken from the Monroe County property lookup system.
Fixed route ridership for BT through June 2022.

This past Tuesday’s meeting of Bloomington Transit’s five-member board included a first look at the 2024 budget for the city’s public transportation agency.

The biggest chunk of the draft 2024 budget is about $12.5 million for acquisition of land to expand BT’s bus storage and maintenance facility.

At around $26.3 million, the draft 2024 budget is about $9 million less than the $35 million the board approved last year.

But that’s still $11 million more than the roughly $15-million budgets for the previous three years.

BT board chair James McLary called the 2024 plan a “very aggressive budget.”

The roughly $15-million budgets for the three years starting in 2020 already reflected a substantial increase, compared to the roughly $9- to $10-million budgets before that.

For each of the last four years, the biggest increases have come in the category of capital expenditures. Bloomington Transit is purchasing battery-electric buses as replacements for buses that have reached the end of their useful life—with a goal of running an all-electric fleet by 2050.

Last year, BT put extra money into electric bus acquisition, just to add to the size of its fleet—to prepare for running a new east-west express route, after a study is completed to analyze the route’s exact alignment and scheduling.

This year, the capital expense category is still the biggest fraction of the budget, but that’s mostly because there’s a $12.5-million item in that category labeled “land acquisition.”

The idea is to use about $2.5 million of local money to match a hoped-for federal grant that will cover the cost of the roughly $12.5-million project. Continue reading “2024 local govt budget season kickoff: Draft plan for Bloomington Transit includes $12M for land purchase” →

Column: Looking ahead to local government news in 2023 like a goose landing on a half frozen pond

A week ago, up at Miller-Showers Park, a flock of Canada geese banked overhead and came in for a landing on the southernmost stormwater detention pond.

The surface was half frozen, because a couple days before the temperature had dropped to –8 F.

As elegant as geese appear in flight formation, on landing they do not make a picture of grace. They sort of wobble along the final approach, webbed feet akimbo, before mostly crashing into the water.

But they were, of course, unscathed. They started cruising around, dabbling for whatever aquatic plants were under the surface.

That’s somewhat like how local government works: It’s elegant and smooth in theory, but when it lands on some particular topic near you, it might look a little clumsy. You might get splashed.

Where will Bloomington’s area local government land in 2023? Here’s a roundup of spots that is surely not exhaustive. Continue reading “Column: Looking ahead to local government news in 2023 like a goose landing on a half frozen pond” →

Bloomington Transit OKs 5-year deal, will get $3.8 million annually from city’s local income tax

Bloomington Transit will receive at least $3.8 million a year for the next five years from the city of Bloomington, under an interlocal agreement approved by BT’s five-member board at its final meeting of the year, on Dec. 20.

The agreement still needs to win approval from Bloomington’s city council.

The deal is expected to appear on a city council meeting agenda sometime in January, based on remarks from BT general manager John Connell at last week’s board meeting.

The money is coming from the increase to the local income tax that was approved by the city council in May of 2022.

The big initiative that the money is supposed to help fund is an east-west crosstown express route.

Some other specific initiatives that the money is supposed to pay for include: implementation of Sunday service in the first quarter of 2023; enhancement of the paratransit microtransit services; increasing frequency of weekday service; and development of a ridership subsidy program.

The new transit initiatives come as BT is clawing back ridership on its regular fixed route service, after a big drop when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. Continue reading “Bloomington Transit OKs 5-year deal, will get $3.8 million annually from city’s local income tax” →

Bloomington nixes zoning request for new jail, puts off purchase of Showers building as police HQ

The purchase of the western part of the Showers building, which also houses city hall, won’t be decided by Bloomington’s city council until next year.

But in a separate action on Wednesday night, the council did effectively decide that the site of a new Monroe County jail will not be the county government’s first choice, which was an 87-acre piece of land in the southwestern corner of Bloomington.

On a 7–2 vote on Wednesday night, the city council postponed consideration of the $8.75-million Showers building purchase, which would be made by the Bloomington redevelopment commission, if the council approves the deal. Dissenting on the postponement were Matt Flaherty and Jim Sims.

On Jan. 18, 2023, the council will again take up the question of buying the western part of the Showers building, to serve as the city’s main police station, and fire department’s administrative headquarters.

It was on a 0–9 vote, taken just a few minutes before midnight on Wednesday, that the council denied the county government’s rezone request for the 87-acre parcel in the southwestern corner of the city so that a new jail could be constructed there. Continue reading “Bloomington nixes zoning request for new jail, puts off purchase of Showers building as police HQ” →