School district fields questions about possible Nov. 7 referendum on 8.5-cent tax increase

Randy Cassady, a member of Bloomington’s redevelopment commission, asked about the impact of TIF districts on the tax.

Former school board member Sue Wanzer asked where MCCSC would run its pre-K programs.

Maqubè Reese asked how MCCSC is preparing for the influx of a more diverse population.

David Sabbagh asked if the referendum could not be put off until 2024.

Monroe County Community School Corporation superintendent Jeff Hauswald.

On Wednesday night, MCCSC superintendent Jeff Hauswald presented the district’s case for a referendum on Nov. 7 that would add 8.5 cents to the district’s property tax rate.

Hauswald then fielded questions from meeting attendees.

Wednesday’s meeting came the day after the school board voted unanimously to pass a resolution authorizing Hauswald to consult with Monroe County auditor Cathy Smith about the calculations that would go into increasing MCCSC’s property tax rate by 8.5 cents.

A vote to put the question to the public as a referendum could come at the school board’s June meeting.

The revenue generated by the additional tax would go towards early childhood education for 3-to-5-year-old children, as well as other initiatives to make education more accessible.

The other initiatives include free instructional technology, supplies, and consumables for all students. Also made free would be Advanced Placement (AP) exams and tests that are needed for workplace certificates. The additional revenue would also cover free career education, including tuition, testing, supplies, and associated fees.

Based on the remarks and questions from the public who spoke, the dozen and half people who attended Wednesday night’s presentation were mostly friendly to the idea of the increased tax.

But former city councilmember David Sabbagh questioned the timing of the public vote. Sabbagh said he is a strong advocate of early childhood education. He told Hauswald, “I would have trouble disagreeing with anything you said.”

Sabbagh continued, “Unfortunately, we have this thing called city government that also taxes us.” He noted the Bloomington is considering an increase to trash collection fees. Sabbagh also noted that his tax bill had already increased due to the successful 18.5-cent referendum that MCCSC had put on the ballot in 2022—which passed with 68.6 percent support.

Sabbagh asked, “I wonder if you couldn’t put it off for a year?” Continue reading “School district fields questions about possible Nov. 7 referendum on 8.5-cent tax increase” →

Potential sludge now stirring for city-county cost sharing on waste-to-energy feasibility study

Monroe County solid waste district board meeting. From left: Geoff McKim, Dan Swafford, Isabel Piedmont-Smith, and Penny Githens.

Monroe County solid waste district board meeting (Jan. 12, 2023)

The aerial image of the city of Bloomington Blucher Poole waste water treatment plant northeast of Bloomington, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s property lookup system

At Thursday’s regular meeting for the board of the Monroe County solid waste management district (MCSWMD), county commissioners Penny Githens and Julie Thomas raised concerns about the way that a waste-to-energy feasibility study has been approached so far.

An agreement to share the study’s $129,220 cost between MCSWMD and the city of Bloomington utilities (CBU) was adopted in the first part of 2022.

The study is being done by Energy Power Partners, and is supposed to be complete by the end of January or sometime in February, based on discussion at Thursday’s meeting.

EPP’s work is supposed to cover scenarios involving the generation of biogas by using anaerobic digestion of primary sludge from the Blucher Poole wastewater treatment plan, adding FOG (fats, oil and grease) and food waste as feedstock from various large waste generators, and the workability of private-sector partnerships for construction, operations and maintenance—among other possibilities.

But at Thursday’s meeting, Githens read aloud a statement that sketches out a number of objections, including the fact that the focus of the study has shifted from CBU’s Blucher Poole wastewater treatment plant to the Dillman Road facility. Continue reading “Potential sludge now stirring for city-county cost sharing on waste-to-energy feasibility study” →

Analysis: Does a local law need to change so a Bloomington public bus can run outside the city?

Map showing bus routes going outside of Bloomington city limits — Excerpt of map showing configuration of routes recommended by Bloomington Transit consultant in 2019.

If Bloomington Transit wanted to run buses outside of Bloomington’s city limits, what, if any, legal requirements would have to be met?

Specifically, what legal requirements would have to be met, in order for Bloomington Transit to serve educational and employment centers like Ivy Tech or Cook Medical—which are outside the city limits on the western edge of town?

In the last few years, the standard answer has been: An amendment to a local law would have to be enacted by the city council.

But a closer look at the local law, and a state statute, suggests that a change to the local law might not be needed.

Instead, the city council would just have to approve any proposed bus service outside the city’s boundaries.

A request from BT to run buses to specific locations outside city limits could presumably be placed on the city council’s agenda by BT—just like approval of its annual budget and tax rate is placed on the city council’s agenda. BT could not force the city council to grant approval.

But that stands in contrast to an ordinance that would change city code. BT does not have the right to place a proposed change to city code on the city council’s agenda, much less force the council to enact it.

Why is this legal issue about the geography of BT’s service area somewhat pressing? Continue reading “Analysis: Does a local law need to change so a Bloomington public bus can run outside the city?” →

Electronic meetings statute stops vote on $5.8M bond issuance by Bloomington parks board

The final approval of $5.8-million in general obligation bonds appeared on Tuesday’s agenda for Bloomington’s board of park commissioners.

view of city council chambers with two park commissioners seated at dais with numeral "1" and "2" labeling them and a third park commission appearing on screen. — Tues. April 26, 2022 meeting of Bloomington’s board of park commissioners. Two were present in-person. One was present on the Zoom platform.

It did not get a vote, because only two of the four park commissioners were attending the meeting in person.

A special meeting will be scheduled so that a vote can be taken.

A third commissioner attended Tuesday’s meeting by using the Zoom video-conferencing platform—which allowed the board to achieve its quorum of three members to transact other items on its agenda.

Under Indiana’s Open Door Law (ODL), an attendee who participates by electronic communication counts towards satisfying a quorum.

And under ordinary circumstances a remote attendee’s votes count towards whatever majority is needed for a particular item to be approved.

But under the ODL, there are some circumstances that preclude a member’s participation in a meeting using electronic communication. Among them are meetings when the governing body is taking final action to “establish, raise, or renew a tax.”

Issuing general obligation bonds has the impact of raising property taxes. Continue reading “Electronic meetings statute stops vote on $5.8M bond issuance by Bloomington parks board” →

Waste-to-energy study could see cost split: Bloomington utilities, Monroe County solid waste

Energy Power Partners has responded to a city of Bloomington utilities (CBU) request, with a proposal to conduct a $129,220 waste-to-energy feasibility study.

The study would cover scenarios involving the generation of biogas by using anaerobic digestion of primary sludge from the Blucher Poole wastewater treatment plan, adding FOG (fats, oil and grease) and food waste as feedstock from various large waste generators, and the workability of private-sector partnerships for construction, operations and maintenance—among other possibilities.

Last Thursday, a proposal to share the study’s cost between the Monroe County solid waste district and the city of Bloomington utilities was put off until next month by the governing bodies of both public agencies.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the agencies will likely appear on an April meeting agenda for both of the governance groups. Continue reading “Waste-to-energy study could see cost split: Bloomington utilities, Monroe County solid waste” →

Local income tax notebook: How Monroe County stacks up statewide

Monroe County boundary highlighted.

Vertical blue line = 1.845 percent, which is the LIT rate Monroe County residents would pay if the current rate were increased by a half point.

During a Feb. 24 speech, Bloomington mayor John Hamilton made explicit what had been implicit since last fall’s budget deliberations: Some kind of request for a local income tax increase would be put in front of the city council this year.

During the February speech, Hamilton put some effort into establishing the need for more revenue—to fund programs, from basic services, like public safety, to climate action.

The plan to generate more revenue is not limited to increasing the local income tax.

Part of Hamilton’s pitch to the city council to approve the 2022 budget included a planned issuance of $10 million in bonds to support climate initiatives. Issuing those bonds will translate into a property tax increase.

Hamilton’s February speech tried to make a preliminary case for the idea that Bloomington and Monroe County’s comparatively low existing tax rates—both income and property tax—give the city room to raise the rates for both kinds of taxes.

In more detail, here’s what those numbers look like. Continue reading “Local income tax notebook: How Monroe County stacks up statewide” →

Bloomington to woo Catalent with tax break as pharma company might invest $350M, add 1K jobs

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By the end of 2026, Catalent might spend $350 million, in order to expand its Bloomington operation at South Patterson Drive in the southwestern part of town.

The project would add 1,000 new jobs, growing its local workforce by about one-third.

The pharmaceutical company is looking to spend about $10 million on development of real property, possibly by buying more land. The other $340 would be invested in personal property, which includes all the non-permanent fixtures inside a building, like manufacturing equipment.

The investment by the pharmaceutical company would be contingent on a tax abatement on the additional value for both real and personal property. Real property would be abated at a rate of 50 percent a year for 10 years, making a total of $826,760 in additional paid property taxes and $826,760 in abatement.

The bigger break comes for the personal property, which is 90 percent for 20 years, and totals an estimated $43,450,785 in abated taxes, with $4,827,865 in additional taxes to be paid.

It’s not a done deal, even if Bloomington’s city council grants the abatement, in a series of steps that will start at its meeting next Wednesday, Feb. 16.

That’s because Bloomington is just one of a number of other places in the country that are in the running for Catalent’s potential expansion in production capacity.

At the city council’s Feb. 4 work session, Bloomington director of economic development Alex Crowley put it like this: “[Catalent has] not made a decision—we are competing for this investment with other areas in the nation. They have biologics plants—as you’ll hear as part of their presentation, around different parts of the country.”

Crowley added, “Bloomington, I think, stacks up pretty well, from a talent perspective, from a quality of life perspective, the site, and the adjacent land availability.” Continue reading “Bloomington to woo Catalent with tax break as pharma company might invest $350M, add 1K jobs” →

Bloomington 2022 budget revenues: Property tax levy up, local income tax down

Bar Chart for PROPERTY TAX Aug 23 2021 article

Better2 Bar Chart for Bloomington Certified Shares Income Tax Aug 23 2021 article

Last Friday, Bloomington mayor John Hamilton released his proposed 2022 budget.

Compared to the 2021 budget, the combination of local income tax distributions and the general fund property tax levy nets out to about zero change for 2022 revenues.

There’s an increase in the general fund property tax levy (based on a 4.3-percent growth quotient)—from $24.43 million to $25.48 million, or an increase of $1.05 million.

But Bloomington’s certified share of local income taxes is expected to drop 7.8 percent, from $13.65 million in 2021 to $12.56 million in 2022, for a difference of $1.09 million.

So the $1.05 million gain in property tax levy is erased by the $1.09 million loss in local income tax revenues.

Still, the overall proposed budget for the city of Bloomington in 2022—not including Bloomington Transit, Bloomington Utilities, and the Bloomington Housing Authority—will increase by about $11.5 million compared to 2021, making the total for 2022 about $106.6 million.

The revenue to cover the $11.5-million increase is coming from the two federal pandemic relief packages—the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

According to Bloomington’s 2022 proposed budget document, the $106.6 million budget will tap Bloomington’s CARES Act funding for $1 million and the ARPA for $9.735 million.

Unlike the 2021 budget, which relied on a $2-million transfer from the rainy day fund, the 2022 budget does not make any transfers out of the rainy day fund.

Continue reading “Bloomington 2022 budget revenues: Property tax levy up, local income tax down” →

Monroe County treasurer: Property taxes getting paid at same pace as last year; emailed questions better, but don’t be afraid to call

It’s spring property tax season in the Hoosier state. Payments are due next Monday, May 11. But a COVID-19 health emergency order from Indiana governor Eric Holcomb means no penalties will be owed as long as the payment is postmarked by July 10.

Cropped smaller 10-10-2019-auction-IMG_6132 — In this file photo, Monroe County’s treasurer, Jessica McClellan, auctions off property at the tax sale held Oct. 10, 2019 (Dave Askins/Square Beacon)

So even though the county courthouse is closed, and the treasurer’s office does not have to provide face-to-face counter service, the treasurer is extra busy.

“The phone never stops ringing,” Monroe County treasurer Jessica McClellan told The Square Beacon on Wednesday. She pegged the number of calls on a average day at around 140, not counting the calls that get routed to other phones at the courthouse.

Most local governmental finance departments are factoring in a delay in revenues due to the extended deadline. But according to McClellan, collections are coming in at about the same pace as last year.

“People are either very amazing or they just don’t know that the deadline has been extended,” she said.

The treasurer’s webpage urges taxpayers to pay by the due date even if the penalties are waived: “However, we are urging all taxpayers to pay their bills in a timely manner. Funds for property taxes help pay police, fire and other essential services that are still being performed.” Continue reading “Monroe County treasurer: Property taxes getting paid at same pace as last year; emailed questions better, but don’t be afraid to call” →