Winona To Increase CCD Tax Rate
April 18, 2018 at 7:52 p.m.
WINONA LAKE – By approving an ordinance Tuesday re-establishing the cumulative capital development fund tax rate, the Winona Lake Town Council hopes to collect a little more money for big upcoming projects.
The ordinance increases the CCD fund tax rate to its maximum allowed by state statute, which is $0.05 per $100 of net assessed value. Currently, the town’s CCD rate is just shy of $0.02.
Town Coordinator Craig Allebach reminded the council that at a combined workshop last fall with the city of Warsaw, Paige E. Sansone with H.J. Umbaugh & Associates mentioned that Winona had a CCD fund but it wasn’t collecting all that was allowable. Winona councilmen suggested the town should take a look at that. Allebach investigated and found out that the council had to act on it by the end of this month to start collecting money in 2019.
Sansone said Tuesday’s public hearing was to re-establish the rate on the CCD fund. Municipalities periodically will look at their cumulative fund, usually every two or three years, and re-establish it back up to the maximum rate because they’re allowed to do that, Sansone explained. “So that’s what we’re here for tonight.”
To re-establish the rate, she said there is a very specific process. First, a notice must be published, which was done; it must be advertised seven days apart, which was done April 6 and 13; and then there must be a public hearing, which was Tuesday. After that, the fiscal body adopts the ordinance, which it did.
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After adoption, the town is required to publish a notice of adoption, which kicks off a 30-day remonstration period. If 50 or more taxpayers file an objection with the county auditor, the DLGF would hold another public hearing.
Sansone said the town currently is levying a net property tax of $31,600 for its CCD fund. “If you re-establish up to the maximum rate, you will net about $79,500, so you would get an additional almost $50,000 a year into this fund,” she said.
“So what we need to look at is how is that going to impact the district tax rate, because everybody’s tax bill is based on a district rate, meaning it’s not just the town, it’s also the school, the library, potentially a township rate,” she said.
She said the town’s district rate for 2018 is $1.9279. If the CCD fund tax rate is increased 3 cents, that’s a 1.6 percent increase to the district rate, whether it’s commercial, residential or personal property and not at the tax caps.
As an example, a $100,000 residential homestead, with no rate increase, would pay about a $631 tax bill. With a maximum CCD fund, that would increase to $641. The median home value in Winona Lake is $175,000. So a current tax bill on that property would be $1,571; with a maximum CCD fund rate, that would increase to $1,596.
Winona Lake Clerk-Treasurer Kent Adams asked, “If I’m a taxpayer, why would I want you to raise my tax bill?”
Sansone said the town was like about every other community in the state in that there’s always a need for something. The additional resources will let the town do some of the projects it needs to get done.
Adams said, “In other words, if we’ve got a project like the roundabout, this could be a potential source of revenue to make up any difference required by (the state).”
Sansone said, “Absolutely.”
Rick Swaim, councilman, asked how many communities across Indiana re-establish their rate. Sansone said most municipalities have a CCD fund and most that she works with will look at and re-establish it every two or three years, depending on how fast their assessed valuation is growing.
Resident Jerry Nelson questioned the need to increase the tax rate.
“We have had, and do have, for a number of years a CCD fund,” Allebach said. “And this was just a way to bring it back up. It’s something that has to be reviewed every couple of years, but we haven’t reviewed it for probably 10 or 15 years.”
He said the town is looking at “several major projects” in the next few years, including the roundabout and replacing the senior center.
Another problem the town has seen, Allebach said, is that the town gets less money because of property tax caps. Increasing the CCD?rate is a way to make up for that and “get those funds to where they need to be so when we do these special projects, we have the funds already there to do them as opposed to having to go out and do bonding.”
Carole Morgan told the council she’s been a resident of Winona Lake for over four years. “I have that $100,000 house that I’m living in. My taxes are, I think, $640 this year. I lived in a $100,000 house in Wisconsin before I came here. My taxes were about $2,200 a year. I think I am getting an absolutely excellent deal living in Winona Lake. I have never lacked for services from the community, the council. It’s a wonderful place to live. If we could generate this much more income for projects that would benefit the community, as a whole, I think it’s an awesome idea and I would be willing to pay that extra $10 or $50 a year to have that happen,” she said.
Council President Bruce Shaffner said the community is very unique and what has made it unique is “the gracious gifts that the Miller family has done for this community.”
He said there was no way “Winona Lake could look or feel like it does today were it not for that. So, we, as the town, are very, very blessed that they invested the amount of money that they did into our community. And I think we have done a good job trying to help them maintain, not only their investment, but for our community, too.”
It was estimated that the Millers invested over $40 million in the town.
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WINONA LAKE – By approving an ordinance Tuesday re-establishing the cumulative capital development fund tax rate, the Winona Lake Town Council hopes to collect a little more money for big upcoming projects.
The ordinance increases the CCD fund tax rate to its maximum allowed by state statute, which is $0.05 per $100 of net assessed value. Currently, the town’s CCD rate is just shy of $0.02.
Town Coordinator Craig Allebach reminded the council that at a combined workshop last fall with the city of Warsaw, Paige E. Sansone with H.J. Umbaugh & Associates mentioned that Winona had a CCD fund but it wasn’t collecting all that was allowable. Winona councilmen suggested the town should take a look at that. Allebach investigated and found out that the council had to act on it by the end of this month to start collecting money in 2019.
Sansone said Tuesday’s public hearing was to re-establish the rate on the CCD fund. Municipalities periodically will look at their cumulative fund, usually every two or three years, and re-establish it back up to the maximum rate because they’re allowed to do that, Sansone explained. “So that’s what we’re here for tonight.”
To re-establish the rate, she said there is a very specific process. First, a notice must be published, which was done; it must be advertised seven days apart, which was done April 6 and 13; and then there must be a public hearing, which was Tuesday. After that, the fiscal body adopts the ordinance, which it did.
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After adoption, the town is required to publish a notice of adoption, which kicks off a 30-day remonstration period. If 50 or more taxpayers file an objection with the county auditor, the DLGF would hold another public hearing.
Sansone said the town currently is levying a net property tax of $31,600 for its CCD fund. “If you re-establish up to the maximum rate, you will net about $79,500, so you would get an additional almost $50,000 a year into this fund,” she said.
“So what we need to look at is how is that going to impact the district tax rate, because everybody’s tax bill is based on a district rate, meaning it’s not just the town, it’s also the school, the library, potentially a township rate,” she said.
She said the town’s district rate for 2018 is $1.9279. If the CCD fund tax rate is increased 3 cents, that’s a 1.6 percent increase to the district rate, whether it’s commercial, residential or personal property and not at the tax caps.
As an example, a $100,000 residential homestead, with no rate increase, would pay about a $631 tax bill. With a maximum CCD fund, that would increase to $641. The median home value in Winona Lake is $175,000. So a current tax bill on that property would be $1,571; with a maximum CCD fund rate, that would increase to $1,596.
Winona Lake Clerk-Treasurer Kent Adams asked, “If I’m a taxpayer, why would I want you to raise my tax bill?”
Sansone said the town was like about every other community in the state in that there’s always a need for something. The additional resources will let the town do some of the projects it needs to get done.
Adams said, “In other words, if we’ve got a project like the roundabout, this could be a potential source of revenue to make up any difference required by (the state).”
Sansone said, “Absolutely.”
Rick Swaim, councilman, asked how many communities across Indiana re-establish their rate. Sansone said most municipalities have a CCD fund and most that she works with will look at and re-establish it every two or three years, depending on how fast their assessed valuation is growing.
Resident Jerry Nelson questioned the need to increase the tax rate.
“We have had, and do have, for a number of years a CCD fund,” Allebach said. “And this was just a way to bring it back up. It’s something that has to be reviewed every couple of years, but we haven’t reviewed it for probably 10 or 15 years.”
He said the town is looking at “several major projects” in the next few years, including the roundabout and replacing the senior center.
Another problem the town has seen, Allebach said, is that the town gets less money because of property tax caps. Increasing the CCD?rate is a way to make up for that and “get those funds to where they need to be so when we do these special projects, we have the funds already there to do them as opposed to having to go out and do bonding.”
Carole Morgan told the council she’s been a resident of Winona Lake for over four years. “I have that $100,000 house that I’m living in. My taxes are, I think, $640 this year. I lived in a $100,000 house in Wisconsin before I came here. My taxes were about $2,200 a year. I think I am getting an absolutely excellent deal living in Winona Lake. I have never lacked for services from the community, the council. It’s a wonderful place to live. If we could generate this much more income for projects that would benefit the community, as a whole, I think it’s an awesome idea and I would be willing to pay that extra $10 or $50 a year to have that happen,” she said.
Council President Bruce Shaffner said the community is very unique and what has made it unique is “the gracious gifts that the Miller family has done for this community.”
He said there was no way “Winona Lake could look or feel like it does today were it not for that. So, we, as the town, are very, very blessed that they invested the amount of money that they did into our community. And I think we have done a good job trying to help them maintain, not only their investment, but for our community, too.”
It was estimated that the Millers invested over $40 million in the town.
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