When Gov. Daniels announced his proposal to cap residential property taxes, he also talked a lot about restraining local spending. The idea was that, to start getting a handle on taxes, communities would get less money and learn to do with less. But Mayor Henry has a different idea:
The new administration will ask City Council on Tuesday to consider raising the 2008 tax levy - the amount of tax government collects - but one councilman said the city is trying to “take a second bite of the apple.”
[. . .]
Because of HB1001, the city's tax levy is estimated to be reduced by $9.7 million in 2009 and $10 million in 2010, causing the city to make some hard decisions about how to overcome the shortfall.
City Council passed the 2008 budget in September and froze the 2008 levy at the 2007 level of $99 million, slicing it by about $3.6 million. At the time, Roller attempted to talk council out of freezing the levy, but council wasn't persuaded and instead chose to reduce the levy, reducing taxes for residents. If the levy was increased it would mean an estimated additional $10.36 on a $100,000 home.
The mayor's first major announcement was that he wanted the city to jump into gambling head first. Now he wants to increase the tax levy. Going to be a loooong four years, isn't it?
