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Broad Ripple Random Ripplings
The news from Broad Ripple
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Converted from paper version of the Broad Ripple Gazette (v04n15)
Property tax fixes give citizens temporary relief
posted: Jul. 27, 2007
On July 18, 2007, State Governor Mitch Daniels initiated a reassessment of all real property taxes in Marion County. A few days later, Mayor Bart Peterson ordered a hiring freeze and directed that $13 million in property taxes be cut from all of this year's city and county budgets.
Both of these political moves seemed to be long awaited actions for the two political giants that reside over the residents of Marion County that had been hit by property tax increases that, in some cases, rose over 200 percent.
Governor Daniels stated in a release that "We're [the government] here to solve problems, and we're beginning with the immediate-at least here in Marion County. People need relief now, and we cannot have people losing their homes because of unfair taxes."
While Daniels directed the reassessment, Peterson and the City-County Council not only initiated a hiring freeze, but also ordered that one percent would be cut across all spending boards for the 2007 fiscal year and extend to the 2008 budget, according to a statement by David Orentlicher at property tax forum on July 17, 2007.
Mayor Bart Peterson praised Governor Daniels for his order of reassessments-which put tax payments back at 2006 rates.
The governor's action means that homeowners hit with increases this year would only pay what they paid last year until a new reassessment is completed. Marion County now will work with the state Department of Local Government Finance to implement these changes locally.
The Broad Ripple Gazette will do its best to try to keep citizens informed on what happens with Marion County property taxes as the dilemma continues to unfold. However, seeing that we are a bi-weekly newspaper, we will also try to be creative in our overall political coverage as changes take place that affect village residents.
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FYI: Many citizens at numerous tax meetings asked where they could find their area politicians' voting records. While the Indiana State government website (www.in.gov) and the Indianapolis city (www.indygov.org) websites provide substancial information, voting records have proven hard to access. The best bet for citizens to try is www.vote-smart.org, a completely non-biased website that provides information on almost all politicians in the city, state and country. Below is a table displaying some of the information found by the Gazette.
| Name | Title | Party | Phone number |
| Teresa Lubbers | State Senator District 30 | Republican | (317) 232-9400 |
| Cindy Noe | State Representative District 87 | Republican | (317) 842-3411 |
| David Orentlicher | State Representative District 86 | Democrat | (317) 232-9818 |
| Ryan Vaughn | City-County Councilman District 3 | Republican | (317) 327-4242 |
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| Bill Number and description, as voted on in the 2007 Indiana General Assembly | State Representative David Orentlicher (Democrat)District 86 | State Representative Cindy Noe (Republican) District 87 | State Senator Teresa Lubbers (Republican) District 30 |
| HB 1001: State Budget - $13.5 billion to education spending (80 percent drawn from property taxes). - Increased medicaid funding. - Uses funds from cigarette tax raise to fund Affordable Housing and Community Development fund. | Voted Yay | Voted Nay | Voted Yay |
| SB 401: Legislator Salary Adjustment -Vote to pass a bill that sets the annual salary of state legislators at 18 percent of a trial judge's salary, beginning in 2009. | Voted Nay | Voted Yay | Voted Yay |
| HB 1007: Property Taxes -Transfers authority to contract for certain services related to the administration of the property tax laws from the townships to the county. | Voted Yay | Voted Nay | N/A |
| HB 1027: Minimum wage increase: A bill to raise the Indiana minimum wage to $7.50 by September 1, 2008. | Voted Yay | Voted Nay | N/A |
Source: www.vote-smart.org
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