Indiana Municipal News Today

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Merrillville looking to possibly shrink the parks department to just one employee in an effort to cut costs for 2010. This comes on the heels of recent investigation into a possible Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board (DUAB) filing, which may not be possible. The DUAB was created as an appeals mechanism when property taxes were capped at 1,2 and 3 percent by the legislature. Municipal entities in Indiana that are affected “may” be able to file for assistance in delaying the impact of this legislation. Our team worked with the City of Gary on their successful filing in 2009 which assisted them with the transition.

Yesterday was the first day of operation for the Mishawaka to Elkhart interurban trolley service.

Portage to release it’s comprehensive plan: From the Times

After months of work, the city’s newest comprehensive plan is ready for review.The plan, which is a road map guiding city officials on development, will be formally presented to the Plan Commission during a special meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

“There are not a lot of huge changes. We got down into some more details than the 2002 plan,” said City Planner Joe Csikos, adding the plan takes more of a look at new development, rehabilitation of some of the older areas of the city and infill opportunities.

One focus for the future, said Csikos, is to not create any more subdivisions – the typical single-family residential developments on half-acre lots with similar houses dotting the streets. Instead, the plan focuses on creating neighborhoods within the city that are a mix of uses, vital developments with considerations for walkability, said Csikos.

Development of the newest plan began last summer when the city hired the consulting firm of SEH Inc. of Munster. A committee of officials, business members and residents also was formed. The committee held two public open houses to gather information and conducted a survey of residents on how they wanted to see their community develop.

That information is contained in the draft comprehensive plan. Csikos said the draft plan is available online for review at www.sehinc.com/online/portage/ and a copy is available at the planning office at City Hall.

Csikos said the public will have a chance to comment on the proposed plan at Thursday’s meeting. If the commission approves the document, it will be forwarded to the City Council for consideration at its Oct. 6 meeting.

Cities and Towns Association

The pre-eminent organization for networking and information regarding Indiana Cities and Towns is the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns.

Some important resources there:

• IACT support of Kernan Shepard reforms for local government reform
• IACT Background and structure
• Indiana Conference of Mayors affiliate group

For more information call or check out the website:

Indiana Association of Cities and Towns
200 South Meridian Street, Suite 340
Indianapolis, IN 46225
(317) 237-6200

Indiana Cities and Towns

News today that affects our clients and potential clients:

“When asked what Northwest Indiana supporters of the Kernan-Shepard recommendations can do to promote his plans, Daniels’ said, “Make noise, please.”

Daniels’ push for implementing the recommendations of the Kernan-Shepard commission came just days after Senate legislation to enact the reforms was amended to exclude Lake County from a key provision to replace county commissioners with a single county executive.” From the Times

Hammond and Whiting discussing consolidating some services.

St. John and Dyer head to court over annexation battle.

Mayor of Portage still committed to consolidating 911 with county dispatch, to save money and to increase public safety. Head of fire union speaks out about not being included earlier.

In 2008, the Indiana General Assembly passed sweeping legislation to put tax caps in place on property taxes depending on the type of property.  This caused dramatic distress in many municipal budgets, first trying to ascertain the level of effect and then trying to once again scramble to keep up with State mandates.

These changes were on top of equally dramatic changes in assessing property to try to move to a market based system, and changes in TIF and Redevelopment laws.  If you’re anything like our clients, this has all been a whirlwind to you and you’re ready for the Holidays.

What does 2009 hold though?  Will Indiana Cities and Towns be hit with yet another set of far reaching reforms and mandates from the state?  One group which strongly supports the Kernan-Shephard reforms is suggesting that 2009 could hold even more dramatic changes, especially at the county level.   We are NOT endorsing these opinions, but they are important enough to all of us to pause and consider.   We welcome your input, and as always please visit our website:  Indiana Municipal Finance Consultants

In short order, everything.  Three of the twenty-seven recommendations of the Kernan-Shepard Report have been implemented, but with the overwhelming decision by the voters to do away with the majority of the remaining township assessors, legislators are taking note and MySmartgov.org is preparing.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

Marilyn Schultz is executive director of Mysmartgov.org, an alliance of interests working to implement the report’s recommendations. She said last week she was encouraged by the voters’ response in townships where assessing duties were put to the question.

“We think we have some momentum from our great success on Election Day,” she said. “A year ago, there were 1,008 township assessors in Indiana, and today we have 13.”

As a former state budget director, Schultz knows the budget-writing task will be foremost on lawmakers’ minds, but she hopes to drive home the point that government must “squeeze the absolute most services from the dollars we have,” insisting on greater efficiency and accountability.

Bills are now being prepared to encompass each of the Kernan-Shepard recommendations, save for the assessing and welfare funding changes already implemented. No legislative sponsors have yet been identified, but Schultz said there are lawmakers willing to carry them all, even the school district consolidation measure that will undoubtedly draw the most fire.

Sen. David Long said this month that the report, prepared by a bipartisan panel, nicely prioritized the local government task ahead.

“We’ll go after the low-hanging fruit first,” he said.

Recommendation one is to replace the three-member board of county commissioners with a single, elected county chief executive, and the second is to combine fiscal and legislative functions of county government in a single, unified council.

Long said he believed there is bipartisan interest in allowing individual counties to determine whether they will adopt the changes.

Look, we understand that the rest isn’t going to be easy to get through. We know that the school consolidation will probably be the hardest part to pass. But we’re encouraged that legislators are listening and getting ready to act.

But as this article notes, and as Jen already mentioned this morning, support is continuing to grow for further consolidation of local government.  And if the actions of the Washington Township Board in Marion County isn’t a prime enough example of how township government still thinks it’s safe and needs to be eliminiated, I don’t know what is.

Tired of local government acting like it’s above the law?  Tired of it wasting your hard earned tax dollars?  Think government should be more efficient and should work for you rather than the other way around, then sign up and get involved!

Indiana County Councils begin budget reviews

House Enrollment Act 1001 (HEA 1001) requires for the first time this year, that county councils in Indiana review all budgets for municipalities and townships (and other taxing units) in each county. There is some confusion about the actual affect of these reviews, since they are not binding.

Porter County will begin their reviews tonite.

VALPARAISO | After spending four long nights pouring over the details of more than 90 budgets within the county government, members of the County Council will begin work tonight on their new responsibility of reviewing the budgets of nearly every other local taxing unit.

At least some of the council members question the value of the additional work, considering they were not given the power to take any action in response to their reviews.

Cender and Company will be assisting LaPorte County in conducting their reviews so that they don’t feel additional pressure to add staff for the new task. If you are a council member or county staff assigned with this new responsibility let us know, we’d be glad to assist in this chore.

We are currently designing our totally new website for Cender and Company here in Indiana.  We’d like to get as much input from municipal government and public sector clients as possible.  What would you like to see on our site?  What kind of articles would you read and find useful?

• Redevelopment TIF
• Impact of HEA 1001
• New laws as they relate to bond financing in Indiana
• Budget reviews as mandated for county councils
• Property tax impact on local government entities of tax caps in HB 1001
• Interest rate alerts
• Planning and Annexation regulations, effectively planning for growth in Indiana cities, towns and counties
• Sewer, water, park, school, and road impact fees.

Seriously, we’d like your input, what would be interesting and helpful enough to you our clients to visit regularly?  We are focusing on our theme:  Solutions to Unique Challenges.  What are your unique challenges that we can help solve?

Special Alert for Indiana Local Government Entities and Taxing Units, released by Department of Local Government Finance on August 1, 2008:

August 1 Assessed values to be certified by County Auditors. Date unchanged

August 1 On or before August 1, taxing units must file proposals to adopt Cumulative Funds with DLGF. Date unchanged

September 20 Last date to adopt CPF and bus replacement tax rates. Date unchanged

November 10 Last date for first publication of proposed budget. Must be at least 10 days before the public hearing. Original Date: September 10

November 14 Taxing units, other than schools, must submit proposed budgets to County Councils for non-binding review at least 15 days before the unit’s adoption date. Original date: September 15

November 17 Taxing units with appointed boards, other than schools, with proposed budget increases more than 4% from the prior year, must submit the proposed budgets to either the city/town fiscal body or the County Council at least 14 days before these appropriate fiscal bodies hold budget hearings. Original Date: September 16

November 18 Last date for second publication of proposed budget. Must be at least three days before the public hearing. Original date: September 17

November 20 Last date to file excess levy appeals, other than shortfall appeals, with the DLGF. Original date: September 19

November 21 Last date for public hearing. Must be at least 10 days before the budget adoption date. Original date: September 20

December 1 Last date for budget adoption. Original date: September 30

December 3 Last date to file budgets with the County Auditor. Must be no later than two days after the budget adoption.

December 17 Last date for County Auditor to prepare a notice of the proposed tax rates to be charged on each one hundred dollars of assessed valuation for the various funds in each taxing district.

There are more details, of course, so call our offices at 219-736-1800 or email for first available municipal local government finance consultant at office@cendercompany.com we would be happy to assist your local government agency or municipality in efficiently meeting these new deadlines and all requirements of HEA 1001.

Source: DLGF, Indiana 8-4-08

As soon as we started posting stories and commentary on Indiana House Bill 1001 we got requests for links to resources online for Indiana Cities, Towns and Counties.

Indiana Association of Cities and Towns – most visitors here are probably already members, a couple presentations on this site deemed useful in the early days of the rollout of HEA 1001.   Legislative Wrap-up Presentation.

Indiana Department of Education – memo on effects of HEA 1001

Indiana County Commissioners review of House Bill 1001 and county budgets in 2009 and 2010.

Indiana Planning review of effects on Redevelopment, TIF’s going forward

Update:  We’ll keep expanding and adding to this list as we get county and municipality specific reports in during the second half of 2008.  If you need assistance reviewing your budgets (required by the new law) or estimating the impact of HEA 1001 please call 219-736-1800 or email: office@cendercompany.com today.

It seems like every day we get a call from an Indiana City, Town, or County entity concerned about budgets and the impact of the circuit breaker tax caps applied by Indiana House Bill 1001 in March.

If you need assistance reviewing your options, or an impact study completed quickly call today or email office@cendercompany.com

Some newspaper articles on this subject just today:

County council hosts meeting tonight to address property tax bill

PALLADIUM-ITEM • July 30, 2008

The Wayne County Council hosts a meeting at 6 p.m. today to provide information on House Bill 1001, the bill that puts caps on assessed values for homes, rental properties and businesses for property tax purposes.

At last, the first page of our brand new municipal consulting website arrives today!

No, we don’t have all the pages for interaction running

No, we don’t have the RSS or the email opt-in for newsletters on municipal finance, bond finance, redevelopment TIF’s or any other Cender and Company services rolling

We really want input from our current and future customers as we build this site together.  We really don’t want a pretty brochure, we want a solid interactive site that actually helps our customers … Key public sector clients that demand unique solutions to local problems and challenges.