Revenue Finds Taxpayer Sufficiently Showed Trucks Used for "Public Transportation"

Taxpayer "is predominately an excavating contractor who specializes in commercial, residential and governmental site work." ...

The taxpayer has [two] semi tractors that are being used to transport raw materials to a local foundry using the foundry's trailers. The taxpayer provides the semi tractors and the drivers and charges a mileage rate to the customer.

... the Indiana Tax Court issued a public transportation opinion– Carnahan Grain, Inc. v. Indiana Dept. of Revenue, 828 N.E.2d 465 (Ind. Tax Ct. 2005). In Carnahan the Indiana Tax Court held that:  "Accordingly, because Carnahan predominantly used the property at issue for transporting agricultural commodities owned by third parties, it is entitled to the public transportation exemption."  Id. at 469. The Indiana Tax Court, in a footnote, also stated: "the Court holds that the relevant inquiry is the use of the property at issue rather than the nature of the taxpayer's business...." Id. at 469 n.6.

In its protest letter, Taxpayer states "[t]he trucks were used 100[percent] for public transportation through the lease arrangement. The Trucks were not used in the demolition and excavation business." Further, Taxpayer states:  "[Taxpayer] did not use the Trucks for any of its other work. It kept them separate for public transportation use. It kept accurate records of the fuel and parts used for the Trucks. Therefore, any fuel and repair items related to the Trucks are exempt from sales tax."

Taxpayer provided a copy of two operating contracts. The contracts state in part that, "During the term of this Agreement, Contractor [i.e. Taxpayer] shall provide Carrier transportation related services and the use of the Equipment..." and further in the agreement it states that "Contractor [i.e., Taxpayer] shall operate the equipment covered by the terms of this Agreement himself or shall furnish sufficient employees to operate said equipment."

Based upon Taxpayer's arguments and documentation provided, Taxpayer has met its burden of proof as it relates to public transportation, as required by IC § 6-8.1-5-1(c).
...

http://www.in.gov/legislative/iac/20120425-IR-045120170NRA.xml.html

29 States See Budget Surpluses

From the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette (citing Bloomberg News):

More than half of the 50 states expect to end their budget years with cash surpluses as a recovery in the economy buoys tax collections, a sign of easing pressure in statehouses across the country.

Twenty-nine state governments, including Indiana, New Jersey and Arizona, anticipate ending their fiscal years with more money on hand than forecast when they put together their annual budgets, according to a survey released Thursday by the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures. It marks the first time since the onset of the 2007 recession that so many states will have unspent funds.

“State fiscal conditions continue to improve at a slow and steady pace,” the legislatures group said in the report. “To date, collections have met or exceeded expectations in most states. Officials expressed cautious optimism about the fiscal situation, reflecting the slow, but steady, improvement.”

The improving financial outlook lessens the need for state officials to make the spending cuts that have exerted a drag on the economy since it emerged almost three years ago from the worst recession since the Great Depression. States have closed more than $500 billion of budget deficits over the last four years by raising taxes, cutting jobs and curbing spending.

Tax collections have risen for the last two years, pushing them back above the peak hit before the recession, according to the Albany, N.Y.-based Rockefeller Institute of Government.

The gains also mark a positive shift for local governments whose own budget struggles have been exaggerated by cutbacks in state aid, said Alan Schankel, who tracks the municipal bond market at Janney Montgomery Scott. As states recover, he said, they may send funds back to cities and counties.
...

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120505/NEWS03/305059951/1066/SEARCH

Columnist Seeks to Clarify Issue of Court Drug and Alcohol Fee

From the Jeffersonville News and Tribune:
...

The issue I want to clarify is simply that these funds were never an additional charge on any fine. The price of a levied fine would have been the same even had Judge Fleece not started the program. I will try to explain in simple terms and by using a hypothetical round number of a $100 fine.

What Judge Fleece did was find something of a technicality in the law that would allow a portion of the ticket price to remain locally to be used for drug and alcohol awareness programs and some funds were even used to administer the program — such as by paying the salaries involved with processing the fines and some associated court costs. Where the real issue came up was how some funds were being used for things like funding youth programs or buying equipment.

The result of the audit and the discontinuing of the program is very simply this: One hundred percent of all fines paid will now go the state and a bureaucrat in Indianapolis will decide how to distribute those funds. That means the funds that were being used in the county will no longer be spent in Clark County. Since there never was a raise in the fines assessed for the program, there will correspondingly be no lowering of any fines levied. In both cases, a person would have paid the exact same amount.

I do not have a final figure at this point, but am being told that close to $750,000 that was being used as a supplement by county government for some services associated with the ticket fines and accompanying court expenses will now have to come out of county government taxes and another three quarters of a million dollars will have to come out of the already overstretched county budget.

This program has been going on for decades and has continuously been audited. It now somehow smells of something political that after almost 20 years, this is being scrutinized so thoroughly. Judge Fleece has admitted that some of the expenditures in retrospect were requests to which he should have said “no” to. For those, any criticism is justifiable and probably deserved.

You have to decide as a taxpayer if this result is a plus or minus for you and if the state controlling agency will see that we get the share of what was being kept to spend in Clark County.


http://newsandtribune.com/columns/x474412540/DODD-Where-do-you-want-your-money-going

Bristol Town Council Votes to Offer Incentive Package to Utilimaster Corp

From the Elkhart Truth:

Friday afternoon, the Bristol Town Council gave a preliminary thumbs up to an incentive package for Utilimaster Corp., fulfilling a key requirement the manufacturer wanted in return for keeping its operations in Elkhart County.

Council members gave unanimous approval after reviewing the abatement offer with town attorney Glenn Duncan. The final step in the process will be the confirmatory vote that will likely take place at the legislative body’s meeting June 21.
...

The truck body manufacturer announced in February plans to vacate its Wakarusa campus and relocate to a single 425,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on Earthway Boulevard. During a press conference outlining the company’s decision to move, Forbes said the state and local incentive packages were still being configured but they were “very important part of the decision making process.”

The Bristol Town Council is offering a package that is spread over two separate resolutions. The agreements do not place a dollar value on the incentives but they do detail what Utilimaster must do to remain in compliance.

The first resolution gives a 10 –year tax abatement in return for Utilimaster doing the following by Dec. 31, 2012:

• investing no less than $2.7 million in real estate improvements;

• investing no less than $4.3 million in new manufacturing and information technology equipment;

• posting an annual payroll, not including fringe benefits, of at least $12.8 million with no less than 402 full time positions;

• compensating every full-time employee with a regular wage of at least $10.50 per hour, not including overtime pay;

• having no more than 40 percent of its workforce be part-time or contract employees.

Also, as part of the first resolution, the town council is declaring the property as an “eligible vacant building” which, according to state statue, allows the company to take a three-year property tax deduction. In the first year, the deduction totals 100 percent, the second year it falls to 50 percent and the third year it returns to 100 percent.

The second resolution offers a 10-year tax abatement on the condition Utilimaster does the following by Dec. 31, 2013:

• investing no less than $1.6 million in real estate improvements;

• investing no less than $950,000 in mew manufacturing equipment and new information technology equipment.

The second resolution also contains the condition that Utilimaster hire at least 85 additional full-time employees and boost its annual payroll by no less than $1.6 million by Dec. 31, 2014. As the first resolution set forth, the average wage must be at least $10.50 per hour and no more than 40 percent of the work force can be part-time or contract employees.

Both resolutions state Utilimaster must remain at the Bristol location until Feb. 28, 2022.
...

http://www.etruth.com/article/20120505/BUSINESS/705059921/0/FRONTPAGE

In Vanderburgh County, Townships use State Money to Increase Assistance

From the Evansville Courier-Press:

Most of Vanderburgh County's eight townships plan to use the $170,000 coming to them in unexpected tax revenue because of a state accounting error to bolster township assistance funds.

"We just put it in our poor-relief fund," said Perry Township Trustee Rick Riney of the $20,400 the West Side township saw after the state announced an accounting error last month.
...

"It'll keep that going so it doesn't run out," said Riney, who says the township assists about 200 to 300 residents a month. Perry Township started the year with $219,143 in its township assistance fund, the highest among its five funds.

The revenue Vanderburgh County townships received in mid-April represents 2.5 percent of the $6.6 million Vanderburgh County received after the Indiana Department of Revenue announced the $206 million error on April 5.

City and county governments got 86 percent of that $6.6 million, and the remaining $908,000 was split among the townships and four other local taxing units, including the library.

To several township officials, the unexpected county option income tax — or COIT — revenue wasn't seen as game changer for their accounts. A few of them said the money essentially made up for cuts in recent years.

"We used to get $1,900 a month," said Center Township Trustee Jim "Tiger" Ritter about COIT distributions from the state. "In 2011, that was cut down to $1,600 (a month)."

"It's not really a windfall for us," said Mary Hart, Pigeon Township Trustee of 17 years, "because we were cut almost $40,000 from last year's COIT budget."
...

In Knight Township — which officials said is still recovering from the mismanagement of about $75,000 by former Trustee Linda Durham — the $23,700 it got is also going to public aid.
...

Other than township assistance, the only other expenditures townships generally have are for fire and medical service, salaries and rent. Some officials have directed the special COIT distribution to these areas.

Ritter said of the $41,800 for Center Township, about $23,000 will be split among the general fund and the funds that pay for McCutchanville Fire Department service and its trucks and equipment. The township assistance fund will still see the biggest chunk, however, at $19,000.
...

In Scott Township — which covers the northeastern half of the county — officials have different plans.

Trustee Bob Harris said the $28,600 his office received will probably go toward the funds for the Scott Township Fire Department, which runs a 24-7 paramedic service to Armstrong and Scott townships and the town of Darmstadt.
...


http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/may/04/no-headline---ev_coit/

More on the Zionsville School Referendum

From the Indianapolis Star:

...It's pretty clear what will happen if a referendum to raise local school taxes does not pass.  Teachers will lose their jobs. Academic programs will be cut.

In fact, it's already happened. The Zionsville School Board has already voted to cut what amounts to nearly 17 full-time positions from the district's payroll to help close a $2.5 million budget gap. That vote was made in order to meet a May 1 deadline to notify teachers that they may lose their jobs.

But when they cast that vote, school officials told voters it could be reversed if the referendum passes.

Such promises, however, have not quieted opponents of the referendum, namely Zionsville Taxpayers for Responsible Education, which is urging residents to reject the added tax. Among their arguments: Teacher salaries have increased while many elsewhere in the community have remained stagnant.
...

The referendum would increase the local school tax to 24.44 cents per $100 of assessed value -- which school officials say will add up to about $239 extra per year for a $200,000 home. A similar measure in November 2010 failed as voters rejected a 29.5-cent increase. The rejection resulted in layoffs for 21 teaching and counseling positions.
...

"We have cut, outsourced and downsized since 2008," Robison said. "If we must proceed with this year's reductions, we will have lost more than 60 teachers and counselors while adding more than 750 new students since 2006.

"This operating referendum is about reversing overcrowded classes and restoring science, foreign language and more that has been lost."
...

"We don't want to do this or any referendum, but this is the only way that Indiana law allows public school districts to reverse revenue loss," he said. "We favor funding formula change, and the ZCS chief financial officer and I are working with state officials toward a more equitable solution for all Indiana students."
...

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012205050330

Revenue Finds Taxpayer's Record Keeping Too Unreliable to Overturn Audit Results

Taxpayer sells flooring materials. According to the audit report, "[T]axpayer's primary sales medium is via [I]nternet sales." The audit report noted that "[T]axpayer did not maintain most records such as sales and purchase invoices." Despite Taxpayer's attempt to reconstruct its sales records, the audit concluded that "[T]axpayer's records were still incomplete."
...

Because Taxpayer did not maintain complete and accurate sales records, the audit resorted to a projection methodology. This alternative is authorized under Indiana law. IC § 6-8.1-3-12(b) provides as follows:

The department may audit any returns with respect to the listed taxes using statistical sampling. If the taxpayer and the department agree to a sampling method to be used, the sampling method is binding on the taxpayer and the department in determining the total amount of additional tax due or amounts to be refunded. (Emphasis added).

Taxpayer makes objections too numerous to enumerate but the issue is whether Taxpayer has met its burden of demonstrating that the original assessment was incorrect. To that end, Taxpayer has provided 14 invoices evidencing sales to Indiana customers along with four pages entitled "Selected Fields [f]rom Sales Sample Month" which Taxpayer concludes are sufficient to establish that it owes approximately $200 in additional sales tax.

The Department has no reason to call into question the documents provided but must question whether the records are sufficient to establish that the original assessment was incorrect. Taxpayer's representative admits that "I may have missed some sales due to my bookkeeping...." and asks the Department to overlook what he admits is Taxpayer's "sloppy books for the past few years...."

Taxpayer asks the Department to rely on Taxpayer's scanty records, overturn the audit's reasoned conclusion, and arbitrarily determine an alternative assessment somewhere between $6,400 and $200 which is "fair and reasonable...." Taxpayer asks too much.

http://www.in.gov/legislative/iac/20120425-IR-045120174NRA.xml.html

Oregon Davis School Corporation Seeks Referendum in May

From WNDU.com:

Next week’s primary election could be do or die for one Michiana school corporation.

Voters in the Oregon Davis School Corporation face a referendum that asks them to agree to pay more in school property taxes—about $400,000 a year more.

“We’ve lost over $570,000 the last three years, this last year we were cut almost $400,000,” said Oregon Davis School Board President Chistopher Lawrence. “With those cuts, the cuts we’d have to make in the school are next to impossible in my opinion, I don’t feel it’s right to make those cuts to the student’s education, so what we had to do was place a referendum on the ballot.”

If the referendum fails, some say the district will be forced to seriously consider a merger with a neighboring district.
“The school’s operated in the black until this year, right now we’re having to operate out of our rainy day fund to pay our bills,” said Lawrence. “If we don’t get this passed, we won’t have enough income to pay the school’s bills and we will have to look at consolidation.”
...

While the average homeowner would pay about $11.55 more a year if the referendum passes, much of the burden is likely to fall on farmers, given the agricultural makeup of the community.

“It’s tough,” said Farmer Curt Hayes. “It’s gonna be tough, a lot of us farmers are going to take a lot of hits.” Yet Hayes used his tractor to lead the caravan of supporters today. “Farming has been good, a lot of guys can’t complain, farming’s been good to us these last couple years so we’ve got to give back to the community, we’ve got to give back a little bit.”

Oregon Davis is a small rural district of about 700 students.
...

Since Indiana law allowed school corporations to place a general fund referendum on the ballot in 2008, 34 attempts have been made: 16 passed and 18 failed.

Next week, both the Oregon Davis and Duneland school systems will place general fund requests on the ballot.


http://www.wndu.com/localnews/headlines/Oregon_Davis_taxpayers_asked_to_pay_more_150236395.html

Referendum on May Ballot for Crawfordsville School Corp.

From the Crawfordsville Journal-Review:

A tax-neutral referendum for a building project at Tuttle —one that would take about three years to complete and carry a price tag of $26-$35 million — will be on the ballot for the May 8 primary election.
...

Tuttle was originally opened Nov. 7, 1906, as Tuttle Grade School. As Crawfordsville’s population steadily increased, the school became too small. It was demolished in December 1959, and the current school, which offered classes for students in grades seven through nine, opened in 1960. The school was restructured in 1986 to accommodate students in grades six through eight.

The last major renovations and updates to Tuttle were completed in 2000 and 2001. The roof has major leaks in many places. The school has inefficient, potentially dangerous window walls and deteriorating brickwork. The electrical, heating and cooling and sewer systems do not operate properly and there are no working showers in the boys’ locker room (there is one in the girls’ locker room).

Presently, Tuttle’s total enrollment stands at about 600 students.
...

http://www.journalreview.com/news/article_784b3b6c-8a95-11e1-b2e4-001a4bcf887a.html

County Software Error Shorts City of Goshen $500,000

From the Elkhart Truth:

Goshen City Council

When: Tuesday evening

Key action: Approved tax rates for three cumulative funds. Council members also learned from Mayor Allan Kauffman that a county software error means the city will get an extra $500,000 next month, money that mistakenly went to the Goshen Redevelopment Commission last year. Kauffman also said he plans to get a group of citizens together to help prioritize services, since the city’s receiving millions of dollars less than it did four or five years ago.
http://www.etruth.com/article/20120504/NEWS01/705029906/0/FRONTPAGE

Terre Haute Looks to Borrow $5 Million for Expenses

From the Terre Haute Tribune Star:

The City of Terre Haute is looking to borrow $5 million to cover day-to-day operating expenses.

Leslie Ellis, city controller, told the nine-member City Council Thursday night that the city is seeking the loan to cover operating expenses for the next 18 months. The loan will be repaid using the city’s forthcoming property tax revenue, she said.

The next disbursement of property tax dollars from the state will take place at the end of June, Ellis said.

Such “tax anticipation warrants” are fairly common around Indiana, especially in the wake of statewide property tax caps, said Paige Sansone, a principal with H.J. Umbaugh & Associates, an Indianapolis-based accounting and public finance consulting firm hired by the city.

“This is strictly a timing issue,” Sansone told the council. “You will have no problem repaying this.”

If the loan is repaid by the end of 2013, the city will have paid a total of $403,000 in interest on the loan, Sansone said.

The city’s total operating deficit is $12.2 million, more than double the size of the loan being sought.

Other funding sources, such as the city’s Rainy Day Fund, will be tapped to find the rest of the money, Sansone said.

“You’re in a situation now where you need the loan,” Sansone said.

The city was required to take a similar loan of $7.5 million in 2009 to cover operating expenses, said Mayor Duke Bennett, reached after the meeting. Due to annual budget cuts over the past several years, the city does not have the necessary reserves to meet all expenses until it receives its first property tax disbursement from the state, he said.

“It’s the same stuff that every city is doing,” Bennett said.

It’s very likely the city will need to take out a similar loan again in 2014, Sansone told the council. Bennett said that loan, if necessary, will be smaller due to anticipated budget cuts and new sources of city revenue. One possible new source of revenue for the city would be a user fee on trash collection, Bennett said.
...

http://tribstar.com/local/x157480509/City-may-borrow-5-million-for-expenses

Muncie Mayor Releases EDIT Spending Plan

From the Muncie Star-Press:

In the wake of announcements from Mayor Dennis Tyler about funding for local projects and causes, Tyler this week released his $1.5 million EDIT spending plan for this year and 2013.
...

The big-ticket line items on the economic development income tax (EDIT) spending list are holdovers from past administrations, including $300,000 earmarked two decades ago for the Horizon Convention Center and $297,000 for bonds promised in 2006 for the local Sallie Mae call center.
...

Many of the items included in the mayor's spending plan -- like the plan adopted by the Delaware County commissioners every three years, and occasionally modified -- gives him a lot of discretion as to where funds are used.
...

Tyler said this week that while he was conscious of his EDIT spending limits, he wanted to continue to fund small projects and efforts that add to the community. He said he planned to meet with Muncie Community Schools officials as early as today to talk about using city EDIT funds to help pay the costs of the school system's recreational youth soccer program for the fall. The program is in danger of being canceled because of school budget cuts. The mayor didn't attach a price tag to that possible EDIT appropriation.

"We'd like to bring that into the partnership with Friends of the Conley," Tyler said. "We'd like to give those kids a program, and I think we can do it."

Gregory said she would prefer an EDIT plan with more specific improvement projects.

"If I had my wishes, moneys would be going to things like making sure weeds aren't growing out of the edges of curbs downtown or high tourist traffic areas," she said. "Cleaning up gateways, keeping them mowed, picking trash up. These are cosmetic things that we can do that would make residents feel better and make us look better."

Tyler noted that his plan, which totaled $1,536,507, left up to $140,000 in uncommitted funds.

"I've left a little wiggle room," the mayor said. "And we're holding back $1.2 million in wheel tax for infrastructure."

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012205040323

Johnson County Library Spends $22,000 Promoting Referendum

From the Indianapolis Star:

The Johnson County Public Library has spent $22,000 to educate the public about a $30 million referendum to build a new Franklin library.

The library's "Just The Facts" campaign is funded by the library system's budget paid for by taxpayers.

The library spent more than $15,000 on advertising, more than $7,000 of which went to The Daily Journal newspaper, according to a budget provided by director Beverly Martin.

Another $6,750 was paid to J Owen Media, run by former Daily Journal publisher Jeff Owen, for designing materials and developing the marketing campaign.

Vote Yes for Libraries, a public action committee supporting the referendum, raised nearly $2,900 and spent about $950, according to financial disclosure forms.

Citizens Opposed to the Library Project raised about $5,500 and spent about $3,000.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012205030324

Study Estimates Approval of Fort Wayne Referendum will Boost Allen County Economy $13 Million

From the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:

If approved by voters next week, Fort Wayne Community Schools’ $119 million building project could generate a $13 million boost to Allen County’s economy and provide 1,500 jobs over the next four years, according to a study commissioned by the district.

If the referendum on Tuesday’s ballot is approved, a report by Hanover Research estimates the economic effect of the project will be $172 million during the four years of construction, including job creation and related spending. If it fails, the report estimates keeping the money with taxpayers would generate an economic effect of about $159 million through their ordinary spending.

Of the 1,500 jobs created, the study predicts 838 would be local workers hired for the project; 240 would be created indirectly from local companies burying materials to use on job sites; and 422 jobs would be created as more people in the community are working.

The findings are the result of a survey conducted by Hanover Research, a Washington, D.C., firm that provides education research services to FWCS and other districts. FWCS has paid the firm $30,000 each year for its services since 2011, according to officials.
...

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120504/LOCAL04/305049957/1026/SEARCH

State Revenue Exceeds Projections After Increased Collections in April

From the Indianapolis Business Journal:

Indiana's state tax collections are now slightly ahead of projections for the budget year after a big revenue jump during April.

Figures released Friday by the State Budget Agency show tax revenue for last month came in about $159 million, or 9 percent, ahead of projections and about 25 percent more than what the state collected in April 2011.

The state had fallen behind its revenue projections with weak collections in January and February, but it is now slightly ahead 10 months into the budget year.

State budget director Adam Horst attributes some of the April revenue growth to faster processing of income tax returns. He said May's revenue could decline because of fewer payments being processed.

http://www.ibj.com/indiana-state-tax-collections-jump-in-april/PARAMS/article/34260

Board Finds Property "Eligible" for Standard Deduction Entitled to Tax Caps

...

Mr. Heaney testified without contradiction that he and his wife used the subject property as their principle residence on March 1, 2008. A significant portion of the subject property therefore met the definition of a homestead that was eligible for the standard deduction and consequently qualified for the homestead tax cap under Indiana Code § 6-1.1-20.6-7(a)(1). Of course, Mr. Heaney did not apply for the standard deduction. And the Assessor rests her entire defense on that fact. According to the Assessor, a taxpayer must apply for the standard deduction in order to get the homestead tax cap because the auditor would otherwise have no way of knowing whether a property meets the statutory definition of a homestead, i.e. whether the taxpayer uses the property as his primary residence.

But a homestead under the tax cap statute is simply a homestead that is “eligible” for the standard deduction, not a homestead that is the subject of an application for, or that has been granted the standard deduction. The fact that the Heaneys did not take advantage of their property’s eligibility for the standard deduction by applying for that deduction is beside the point.

The Board sympathizes with the Assessor’s position to an extent. Not all residential properties are entitled to the homestead tax cap—only those used as a taxpayer’s principle residence are. And a county auditor has no way of knowing whether a taxpayer uses a given property for his principle residence unless the taxpayer affirmatively shows that fact, such as when the taxpayer applies for a standard deduction. Thus, a homeowner’s failure to apply for a standard deduction can lead to an auditor erroneously failing to apply the homestead tax cap in the first instance. But when a taxpayer brings that error to the auditor’s attention, as Mr. Heaney did in this case, the auditor can and must correct that error.

...

http://www.in.gov/ibtr/files/Heaney_71-001-08-3-5-00001.pdf

State Payments Narrow Portage Budget Deficit

From the Northwest Indiana Times:

...

Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham told the committee that because of the state's economic development income tax collection error in 2011 and this year the city was shorted $416,732 and has been repaid that sum. In addition, the city's economic development income tax fund will receive a $400,000 bump in revenue this year.

That got the EDIT fund deficit down to zero and lowered the city's overall anticipated deficit this year from $1.9 million to $1.3 million, Stidham said.

…

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/portage/state-payments-help-narrow-portage-s-anticipated-budget-deficit/article_42bf4200-66e0-556a-b4eb-765332196d9d.html

Anderson Expands Westside TIF District

From the Madison County Herald-Bulletin:

The Anderson Redevelopment Commission voted to expand a tax increment financing, or TIF, district to include struggling westside properties during its meeting Tuesday evening.
...

The project is now considered a consolidated redevelopment plan rather than a westside one, Sulc said, and includes the former Guide Corp. properties along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 32nd Street, Orchard Park between 53rd and 67th streets, and commercial land on the south side of Nichol Avenue between Park Road and Raible Avenue.

That commercial land on Nichol Avenue includes Great Taste China Buffet and Best Way Cleaners and the former Kentucky Fried Chicken and Hardee’s — where 50 percent of existing commercial areas are vacant.

Properties on the north side of Nichol Avenue that commission member Carolyn Scott said could benefit from being part of the TIF district during the last meeting were added along with properties from Main to Monroe streets on 29th Street.

“The TIF funds will increase and improve the infrastructure,” Sulc said.
...

If put into place, he said, the project would provide multiple infrastructure upgrades and work on brownfield projects and drainage.

Beginning work on the redevelopment early this go-round, Smith said challenges were better understood.

The plan will have to move through the Plan Commission and then the City Council before it can head back to the Redevelopment Commission for final approval.

http://heraldbulletin.com/business/x1378306628/Redevelopment-Ccommission-votes-to-move-forward-with-TIF-expansion

An Editorial in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel Argues Against Economic Development Incentives

From Tyler A. Watts, Ph.D., of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation in the Fort Wayne News Sentinel:

…

Possibly the most egregious of these practices is the widespread use of “economic-development” tax credits. Bribing large companies to set up shop in their districts is a hackneyed job-creation game that local pols and economic-development bureaucrats have been playing for decades. It's also a gross violation of one of America's founding legal principles: the idea of equal protection of the law. Targeted tax cuts mean government is applying different rules to different people.

Such policy says, “If you're a large company with a visible impact on the labor market, we'll subsidize you. If you're too small to make headlines with large job promises, you pay full price for the blessings of government.” And although this “press release economics” has been tried all across the state, it's unneeded at best and counterproductive at worst.

Truly productive enterprises — i.e. those whose costs are less than their revenues — don't require government subsidies. Subsidizing private industries simply generates temporary spurts of artificial growth that comes at the expense of genuine economic development.

All that's needed to maximize economic growth is low and uniform taxes, wherein politicians can't pull strings and play favorites through the tax system. “Broaden the base, lower the rate” is a proven formula for growth; targeted tax cuts are a proven formula for wasteful special-interest favoritism.

…

If we can get state government wholly focused on its core competencies of providing public goods like highways and the legal system, and end the attempts to micromanage and subsidize growth, our state's economy will flourish like never before.

If you like our growth rate now, just wait until we leave all economic development decisions to the entrepreneurs instead of the politicians and bureaucrats.

http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120503/EDITORIAL/120509895/0/SEARCH

Indiana Pickling and Process Granted Property Tax Abatement in Portage

From the Northwest Indiana Times:

The City Council approved tax abatements Tuesday for Indiana Pickling and Process at the Port of Indiana.

The company is planning a $7.2 million expansion of the Portage plant it has operated since 1992, said Paul Abernathy, the plant's general manager.

…

Jim Fitzer, director of the Portage Economic Development Corp., said the project also is receiving incentives from the state's economic development group.

The company received a 10-year abatement on property tax and a five-year abatement on personal property tax.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/portage/portage-oks-tax-break-for-indiana-pickling-expansion-project/article_c944ec41-ba76-5103-90f8-3828b70dbd2f.html