There are two contested races at the county level – Southern District county commissioner and District 4 county council. All candidates in the two races answered the same questions at Monday evening’s candidate forum hosted by the Kosciusko Chamber of the Commerce and the Times-Union. The first question asked: “The state legislature is proposing elimination of the Business Personal Property Tax – what are your plans for replacing the lost revenue?” Commissioner candidate and incumbent Republican Bob Conley said the commissioners have discussed the issue a lot at their meetings. Eliminating those taxes sounds like a good idea initially, he said, but there are programs and people the tax pays for. “To do away with those, there’s repercussions and programs that would have to be cut,” he said. Gale Owens, Democrat candidate for commissioner, said the problem was tax abatements. Dan Damron and incumbent Jon Garber are running for county council. Damron said all that money is needed for the county, while Garber said the elimination of that tax will be a problem for Kosciusko. For the second question, moderator and Times-Union General Manager Gary Gerard asked, “The recent merger and acquisition announcements and the impact of the medical device tax on the orthopedic industry have many in our community expressing concern for Kosciusko County’s economic future. How would you propose strengthening the local economy so that negative changes in the orthopedic industry do not impact our community?” Owens said the county needs to start looking at industries other than orthopedics. Damron said he’s been fighting the orthopedic tax since the state started talking about it in 2009. Garber said the county needs to let Washington know how much the tax will affect Kosciusko, but the county also needs to diversify. Conley said the Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. and its director, George Robertson, have been working tirelessly on the issue. The third question touched on the Kernan-Shepard report that suggested establishing a single-person elected county executive and a single, unified legislative body. Candidates were asked if they favor such a restructuring of the county government and why. All the candidates were opposed to the report’s suggestion. Finally, Gerard asked, “Indiana transportation funding nears a time when revenues will not meet the needs for highway departments around the state. How do you propose the highway department is funded in the future?” Garber answered, “We as a county council addressed that issue. We had the opportunity, the state gave us the opportunity, to impose a surtax and a wheel tax, and we did that.” Conley said that tax will be put to good use. While the county’s portion of that tax will be about $1.7 million, every municipality will get some of the money. As an example, he said Silver Lake will get $22,000 and North Webster will get about $28,000. “Every small town in the county will get their portion,” Conley said. Owens said Silver Lake has all paved roads without raising taxes and it’s all about watching its budget. Damron said he didn’t like the wheel tax.
