My name is Mike Ridenour. I am a resident of Wabash, serve on the Wabash County Council, and am running for the Indiana House of Representatives in the 22nd district, which includes a large portion of Kosciusko County.
I have attended a couple of your county council meetings recently in an effort to both meet people in your area, and to try and be informed of your government.
I would like to know not only your local government position on this, but as well the individual opinion in regards to property tax.
It has been documented that if Kosciusko County were to adopt a 1-percent Local Option Income Tax (in addition to your current income tax rate locally) that your county could eliminate property taxes completely for homesteads. This means that everyone in Kosciusko County would pay the new income tax, but if the dollars were allocated specifically to homesteads, or a person's primary residence in which they live, those persons would not pay property tax. Now, the remaining property owners would still pay such as persons living outside of Kosciusko County that own a home on the lake (or anywhere else in the county), business, farm ground, etc.
But, total elimination of property tax for homesteads? I guess I may not fully understand why this was not adopted in 2007 for your county, and I am trying to learn more of your county because Wabash and Kosciusko are adjoining. There are several differences.
I am a firm believer that the costs to fund government services should be in no way be directly related to a person's property that they own, that the state has a right to determine the value of it and adjust budgets accordingly. I do believe that the costs to fund local, and even state government, should more be in line with the income base that surrounds it. If the income drops, then the government revenue should drop accordingly.
It has been said in different ways and by different members of our current council that property really requires not much more than fire protection of our government, it is people that require the majority of it like police, courts, jails, roads, etc. In thinking about this, is it fair to have our government's appetite satisfied by the perceived value of our property?
It is true that in doing this, some people will pay more overall taxes, and some will pay less (the big winners are persons who own a homestead property and are living on limited income).
Please keep an open mind. I am not trying to lead you or your local leaders of government into making a decision specifically on this, but I do however want to learn more about your county, its residents and how you feel on this "taboo" issue.
