City Council resolution opposes propose change to business personal property tax

With Mayor Bill Dory calling Greencastle Resolution 2022-3 “a fairness resolution, not an anti-business resolution,” the City Council became one of the first local units of government to oppose a proposed change in the state’s business personal property tax.

The resolution opposes all legislation that contemplates eliminating any portion of business personal property assessed value that would result in a loss of local tax revenue.

With the Council unanimously passing the resolution at its January meeting Thursday night, Mayor Dory took the opportunity to present a copy of it to State Sen. John Crane (R-Avon) at the Legislative Update session Saturday morning at Farm Bureau.

Gov. Eric Holcomb

During his State of the State address last week, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb voiced support for efforts to change the business personal property tax as a priority in the 2022 Indiana legislature.

The resolution states that the City Council “has grave concerns” with all legislation contemplating elimination of any portion of the personal property tax “without a permanent, full replacement guaranteed by the state.”

Dory noted how the personal property tax is relied upon for funding local government.

In Putnam County, the $342,240,211 in business personal property assessed value made up 23.2 percent of the total taxable net assessed value of the county for 2020 payable 2021 taxes.

For Greencastle Community Schools, the $187,138,198 in business personal property assessed value made up 40.2 percent of total taxable net assessed value of the school district for 2020 pay 2021 taxes.

In the City of Greencastle, the $122,616,558 in business personal property assessed value made up 47.3 percent of the total assessed value of the city for 2020 pay 2021 taxes.

“It is nearly impossible,” the resolution adds, “to determine the exact impact of changes to the 30 percent depreciation floor to property tax revenue due the city without individually analyzing over 290 business personal property tax returns for businesses located within the city.”

Should the measure pass the legislature, the City of Greencastle, the resolution notes, “it has the potential to see a significant decrease in business personal property tax assessed value, a decrease in associated revenue and an adverse impact of property tax caps.”

Passed unanimously by the City Council following a motion by its president, Mark Hammer, the resolution “urges the Indiana House of Representative and the Indiana State Senate to ensure that any revenue lost due to changes in the assessment of business personal property be replaced with a permanent guaranteed replacement revenue stream.”

Mayor Bill Dory

Mayor Dory explained that AIM (Accelerate Indiana Municipalities) -- the new version of the old Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (IACT) group -- has urged communities to pass the resolution opposing the business personal property change.

Dory called it “a PR effort to bring to the attention of the legislature the potential adverse impact on local government.”

“I think we might be one of the first cities or city councils to take up this resolution,” offered Fourth Ward Councilman Cody Eckert.

Eckert, who serves as a legislative staffer in the Indiana House of Representatives, said he appreciated the mayor noting that the resolution is not an anti-business measure.

“What I don’t want to see,” Eckert added, “is shifting of the tax burden toward homeowners, and I don’t want to see a further strain on municipalities to provide basic services.

“So although it’s great to actually see the tax pie shrinking, I just want to make sure the burden is fairly distributed.”