From the Bloomington Herald-Times:
The Monroe County Council could have issues with its budget, thanks to actions from the Indiana General Assembly.
Changes in the inheritance tax and raises for probation officers passed earlier this year, respectively reducing income and increasing spending for the county in 2014.
In 2012, the legislature decided to phase out the inheritance tax over a 10-year period. However, the 2013 Indiana state budget, signed into law by Gov. Mike Pence on May 9, included a provision that repealed inheritance tax effective Jan. 1.
For Monroe County, losing this revenue means a loss of about $300,000, according to Geoff McKim, president of the Monroe County Council. The county could still see some money if a person died before Jan. 1 and his or her estate was not settled, but the council will assume the revenue from inheritance tax will be nothing.
However, levy growth of about 2.6 percent, or about $392,000, will cover the loss of the inheritance tax, though it may rearrange the county’s plans for some budget items.
“That’s the levy growth that we use to fund raises,” McKim said. “So this is the consequence of the accelerated termination of the inheritance tax.”
...
The 2013 budget passed by the council included expenditures from the general fund of $29,603,950, though revenues for the year were expected to be $29,328,158 — a shortfall of about $275,000.
See the full article here:
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2013/05/29/news.state-changes-affect-countys-bottom-line.sto
