Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Walker and Roysdon Ask Can Muncie Council Save School with LOIT?

By Walker and Roysdon in the Muncie Star Press:

Muncie City Council has again been called upon to implement a new local option income tax, this time to prevent, at least for now, the closing of a city high school.

Last week, at the latest public forum on changes being considered by the financially strapped Muncie Community Schools, it was school board member Robert Warrner who suggested that the city council could “solve our problem.”

Noting four members of the nine-person council had addressed the school board that night — actually there were three; former council member Chuck Leonard also spoke — Warrner said “with one more councilman, you have the power to solve our problem.”

“You could pass the Local Option Income Tax, and that would solve our problem,” he added. “So you four, and one more vote for that, we wouldn’t have to close any schools.”

Last spring, when Delaware County government officials were mulling over their own ongoing budget crisis, a few wished aloud that their city counterparts would consider implementing the countywide LOIT to provide them with a new stream of revenue.

Muncie City Council holds the majority of votes on the Delaware County Income Tax Council.

At that time, the council’s president, Jerry Dishman, and Mayor Dennis Tyler said they had no interest in enacting a LOIT.
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See the full article here:

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013309150036&nclick_check=1