The Monroe County Council delayed a vote on a proposed county public safety income tax at its May 24 meeting to allow more time for public comment.
The proposed 0.25% tax would raise an estimated $6.9 million, with 30% of it going to help fund the central dispatch center headquartered in Bloomington.
The county council’s discussion followed the Ellettsville Town Council’s passage of the ordinance on May 23. Michael Flory, county attorney, told the county council it could not alter the ordinance since it had already been passed by another entity.
“This public safety (local option income tax) is one of the few opportunities that the General Assembly gives us locally to actually address our shortfalls,” said County Councilor Geoff McKim. “If we don’t take advantage of this opportunity, I think we’re going to regret it.”
Beginning with Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Marc Kellams, several public safety officials made appeals to the council regarding areas of need.
Kellams told the council recent changes to the state’s criminal code put the county in a tough position as local government must now jail Level 6 felons instead of the state. This is significant for Monroe County, which already has an overcrowded jail and a cap on the number of inmates it can hold. When that cap is reached, someone must be released to put someone else in jail.
The judge noted that the county has a multifaceted justice system that aims for reform before incarceration, but that system is missing one thing – a work-release program.
“We have an amazing community corrections system that has many, many different levels of dealing with offenders, but we’re missing one level,” said Councilor Lee Jones. “And that is a situation where people are kept under supervision during the time they’re not at work, but then are released to go to work.”
There was some debate on the council about whether 30% or less of the funds should be earmarked for the central dispatch center, which receives about $500,000 annually from the state’s 911 fund. But McKim said the state has already raised the rate on the phone tax that pays that fund to generate the same revenue it did in the past.
“This is something that can be reconsidered every single year,” said Jones. “If it should turn out that 30% is not adequate, it’s possible to raise it. If it turns out that a little too much money is being accumulated as a backup fund, then it can be lowered a bit.”
Bloomington Police Chief Mike Diekhoff addressed the allocation to the central dispatch center. He said staffing was so thin that other staff members had to be given overtime when someone called in sick or took personal time. The situation led the dispatch center to spend, on average, $114,000 per year on overtime over the last 10 years.
Monroe County Prosecutor Chris Gaal told the council that his department has a critical need for a deputy prosecutor dedicated to sex crimes, which it has not had since 2012.
“Sex crimes cases are the most labor-intensive cases that we deal with,” said Gaal. “They’re more likely to go to court.”
He added that deputy prosecutors working on all the other felony cases in the county must trade off on sex crimes to make sure they are covered.
The sheriff’s department needs more deputies, according to Monroe County Sheriff Brad Swain, who told the county he had his captain do some research into best practices for the population and land area his department patrols.
“Based on our population, if we had a magic wand, we would have 97 deputies to provide appropriate service to our community,” Swain said.
There are currently 33 deputies, with between three and six working each shift. Swain requested funding for three more deputies per shift.
Councilor Marty Hawk questioned the origin of the numbers and the ordinance as written.
“The devil is in the details. Is it really needed? Is $7 million the right dollar amount? Is the 0.25% the right percent?” she asked. “This is why I do not like the process, because had we been able to come together as the income tax council, if we had had a meeting of the city council, the county council, the Town of Ellettsville and sat down and discussed our budgetary concerns, we might have had a presentation that we could’ve all understood.”
But Council President Cheryl Munson could not see how 0.25%, the legal maximum for this tax, could be enough.
“The numbers I heard tonight from fire departments, from our sheriff, from the prosecutor, others, there’s no way that the revenue coming in from 0.25% that is apportioned to the county can cover it, can’t even come close to covering all these requests,” she said.
Once the county and city vote on the tax, it will go to the county income tax council, where the Bloomington City Council has the majority vote, for the final decision.
Councilors Eric Spoonmore and Shelli Yoder questioned what kind of burden the tax would place on Monroe County workers and expressed an interest in hearing more input from the public. The council voted unanimously to delay its vote on the tax to June 14.
Bloomington City Council will consider the tax on June 1 in Council Chambers, Ste. 110, Bloomington City Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Originally published in Ellettsville Journal, 2016. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.