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State Sens. Ryan Mishler and Chris Garten and Rep. Craig Snow are scheduled to speak Tuesday, Sept. 29 at a public town hall event in Warsaw on property taxes and other matters.
The event arose after state Rep. J.D. Prescott traveled earlier this year around the state, including Kosciusko County, talking about his proposal to eliminate property taxes and replace them with a 7% services tax.
“We (Mishler and Snow) just felt like we needed to probably talk to our constituents about some of the problems with that, and maybe some alternatives that we could do instead that we could actually make work, and so that’s how it started,” Mishler said in a conference call Thursday afternoon.
He said he and Garten have a lunchtime fundraiser in South Bend on Tuesday, and with Garten being Mishler’s ranking member, they invited Garten to participate in the Warsaw event. The Indianapolis media started calling him after they caught wind of it.
“The whole reason I didn’t respond to media is because I wanted to talk to the people in my district, not the Indianapolis Star and stuff. The whole reason we did this was to explain to people in Kosciusko County some of the issues with the proposal that they heard and just some alternatives to that,” Mishler said.
Since Mishler, Snow and Garten work on the state budget, they were encouraged to discuss the state budget at Tuesday’s town hall as well.
“So we kind of expanded a little bit, so we’re going to talk a little bit about the upcoming budget challenges - good, bad - and then the property taxes, kind of where we’re at and an option of where we can go,” Mishler said.
He’s been working for a while on drafting a bill related to property taxes but it’s not filed at this time.
“As you know, property taxes are complicated. I had a bill from a couple years ago that was just kind of a starting point, but it didn’t have revenue replacement or anything. Now I have kind of the revenue replacement figured out, but we’ve been talking to bond attorneys and things like that to make sure we don’t upset the apple cart on our bond rating, the bond holders and our credit rating and all that. So, it’s just taking a little time, so I have a draft, but I don’t have the official draft that I’m going to file yet. But I know what I’m putting together, so I can explain that Tuesday night, but it’ll probably be in draft in the next probably few weeks,” Mishler stated.
Asked if it essentially boils down to eliminating the homestead tax for the primary residence while letting other taxes continue, Mishler said in some ways yeah.
“You can’t use the word ‘eliminate.’ That’s what gets you into trouble with the bond holder. You can’t use the word ‘eliminate.’ But, yeah, there is kind of a proposal of what we can do on the homestead without putting us in a bind with the bond holders,” Mishler stated. “Because when people purchased those bonds, property taxes back those bonds. If you change that mid-stream, they’re going to sue you because you’ve now changed your method of payment on the bonds that they purchased.”
In some way, shape or form, he said there will be some kind of proposal with the homestead, but reiterated the word “eliminate” can’t be used. “There’s other ways to do it.”
At Tuesday’s event Mishler said he will address any effect it’ll have on cities, towns, schools, etc. because “there’s the ability to recapture that elsewhere outside of property taxes. So locals will have the ability to backfill their property tax loss.”
Mishler didn’t want to characterize the event as representing a coalition of Garten, Snow and himself on the matter.
“When it started it was Snow and I, I’m with the Senate, he’s with the House. I wouldn’t say it’s a coalition,” he said, adding that he can’t speak for the House. “They’ve got some tax plans, too, that (Snow) can discuss on the House side. And, quite honestly, when we invited Sen. Garten, at that time, he’s my ranking member and works with me on all this, it just so happens that the caucus voted him as Pro Tem after we decided to do this.”
Garten and Mishler work on the budget together, Mishler’s discussed the property tax plans with Garten but Garten’s appearance Tuesday is as a special guest.
“I would not use the word ‘coalition.’ The House and the Senate still have different opinions on things, so I don’t want to say we’re lock-stepped together on everything. That wouldn’t necessarily be true, but we’re working together to get to a place that we can make work and make the constituents happy,” Mishler explained.
He had a hearing on a proposed property tax bill a couple years ago but didn’t vote it out of committee. Someone came across it last summer, and Gov. Mike Braun reached out to Mishler and they met to discuss it. Then this past spring, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith reached out to Mishler and they met on it with a group of people.
“So I’m getting people reaching out to me to go back to that type of plan, so that’s what I’m trying to do. With my plan I never did a revenue replacement, where now we have the ability to put that out there,” Mishler explained.
The state legislature has talked about major changes regarding property taxes before, but could 2027 be the year the state gets it done?
He said he’s trying to put something together on property taxes that’s far less confusing.
“I think that we all agree that all the things that have been done so far is so confusing that nobody really seems to understand. So, first of all, I’m trying to simplify it a little bit because I want people to understand what we’re doing,” Mishler said.
This year, he said he really does think the state will get something done because “people have reached out to me and asked me to go back to this, so there seems to be quite a bit of support. I think right now there’s an expectation that something will be done.”
Mishler also pointed out Republicans this year at their convention put it in their platform to do away with property taxes.
“So I think that puts a little more pressure on it as well. So, I think there’s more people talking about it. I did not force the issue. Like I said, people reached out to me and asked me to try to work on this again, so I am, and I have something that can work,” he said.
“You’re never going to pay zero. You’ve got to pay for your services somehow,” he said. “So, I also want to explain to people there is a bit of a shift and people just have to acknowledge that, that’s the shift that they want. Whether you pay your property taxes or whether you pay ... for your services in another way. I think there’s an expectation that we’ll do something, get something done this year. I know the Senate is going to put something out and I can only speak for us. Where it goes from there, I can’t answer for other people.”
Mishler said it was his understanding there will be some time for some questions from the public at Tuesday’s event.
Hot dogs and fellowship will be from 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29, with the presentation beginning at 6 p.m. at the Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion, 119 E. Canal St., Warsaw. It is open to the public.
“I just feel with all the talk right now and all the confusion, it’s my responsibility to talk to the people in my district on what I think is the best option for our community,” Mishler stated.
Mishler (R-Mishawaka) represents Senate District 9, which includes portions of Elkhart, Kosciusko, Marshall and St. Joseph counties.
Snow (R-Winona Lake) represents House District 22, which includes Kosciusko County and portions of Wabash County.
Garten (R-Scottsburg) represents District 45 in Southern Indiana.
