Story Created:
May 12, 2008 at 7:39 AM EDT
Story Updated:
May 12, 2008 at 8:28 AM EDT
SOUTH BEND — Property tax bills may be lower and sales tax is up, but those aren’t the only things that will change in the future because of the Indiana General Assembly.
On Thursday, the public will have a chance to find out the full effects of House Bill 1001 and talk to government officials about the impact. House Bill 1001 is the property tax relief legislation passed by the General Assembly during the last session.
South Bend Common Council will host the meeting at Century Center, and the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns will give the presentation. A question-and-answer period will follow. Local officials from South Bend, St. Joseph County, Mishawaka and the county townships have been invited.
The ripple effects of House Bill 1001 are starting to show, as local officials look for ways to trim budgets and comply with the roughly 550-page law. Here are a few ways the law has affected the community so far:
The state sales tax increased 1 percent at the beginning of April. The money from the increase is meant to be used for property tax relief.
The St. Joseph County Public Library is closing all of its branches on Saturdays this summer. The library board also has approved a $300,000 reduction in purchases of new books and other materials in its 2008-2009 budget.
The St. Joseph County Assessor’s Office has been busy preparing to take on township assessing duties. Most of the township assessors in St. Joseph County will be eliminated by July 1. Voters will get to decide whether to keep the Portage and Penn assessors in a referendum in November, because both townships have at least 15,000 parcels.
Local officials say that House Bill 1001 will severely impact services such as public safety, schools and libraries. All of the taxing units combined in St. Joseph County could lose an estimated $34.6 million over the next two years.
Monday, May 12 at 1:46 PM Mr. Sarcasm wrote ...
Mike is right. Let's build another toll road, so we can lease it. Then let's use that money to build a $200 million dollar stadium and borrow money to buy the Yankees. We can tear down all the vacant buildings and have plenty of room for parking. People will go to the games because of the high unemployment in South Bend. They can pay with food stamps. All we need to someone dumb enough to loan us a lot of money.