Mayor Terry Seitz's State of the City: 'We're doing it the Jasper way'

The chamber holds the forum annually as an opportunity for local people to get informed about how local government is serving them. It’s also the avenue Jasper Mayor Terry Seitz takes to deliver his annual State of the City address to the Jasper Common Council.

“When you look at your property tax bill, this is where most of your property taxes go,” said Nancy Eckerle, executive director of the chamber. “We do like to hear and see how our money is being spent and what great things are going on in the county, in the City of Jasper and in the Greater Jasper School Corporation.”

This year, County Commissioners President Chad Blessinger, County Council President Jerry Hunefeld, Seitz and Greater Jasper Schools Superintendent Tracy Lorey gave presentations.

City of Jasper

Seitz focused his State of the City address on 16 accomplishments in 2016 for Jasper. His three big ones on the list were Smithville of Ellettsville’s telecommunications fiber build out of the city, progress on the Jasper Cultural Center and the development of the former Jasper Cabinet property into River Centre. Smithville’s fiber build out and River Centre represent private investments into Jasper, Seitz said. He also explained why the city didn’t simply tear down Jasper Cabinet as Seitz said many citizens had requested.

“First of all, we don’t own it,” Seitz said of the former Jasper Cabinet property. “Second, it’s still paying taxes...about $10,000 a year just as it was.”

Assuming the city got the property for free, Seitz said, tax payer money would have been used to tear it down.

“Is that good investment?” Seitz asked.

Seitz talked about some of the challenges facing Jasper, including opioid abuse, the Midstate Corridor project and state mandates that trickle down to the local level.

“We just passed a $2 a month increase in your wastewater,” Seitz said. “Why? Because we are now mandated by the federal government and the state to monitor phosphorus and to eliminate it as much as possible. Did they send money to do that? No. We had to find it, to the tune of about $200,000 a year.”

Looking ahead, Seitz talked about continued progress on River Centre and the Jasper Cultural Center; Jasper Lofts workforce housing at the corner of 13th and Vine streets leasing; and beginning construction of Vine Street Lofts senior housing, also at the corner of 13th and Vine, among other projects.

Seitz closed his address with a quote from an unknown author: “If we are only planning for the community we’ve known in the past, we will be left out of the future.”

“I firmly believe that,” Seitz said. “Jasper is not the community it was 50 years ago. Jasper is not the community we were 20 years ago. Actually, we’re not the community we were when I came into office in 2012.

“While honoring the past, we are constructing the present and building the future....More than anything, we’re doing it unlike any rural city — unlike any city — in Indiana. We’re doing it the Jasper way.”

For a copy of Seitz’ address, contact Administrative Assistant Lisa Bower in city hall by phone 482-4255 or by email at lbower@jasperindiana.gov.

County

Blessinger opened the forum with a rundown of county offices and several projects the county commissioners are working on. The big projects for the commissioners are related to roadways. Commissioners oversee the county highway department, which manages 662 miles of county roadway, and have several road-paving and bridge-maintenance projects scheduled for this year. The county has also partnered with the City of Huntingburg on an overpass project that will go over the train tracks and allow constant traffic flow into Huntingburg, a key for emergency response vehicles such as ambulances that can currently be blocked by trains. The project is estimated at $6 million. The county commissioners pledged $1 million to the project.

“One of the reasons for that is that safety issue and that it impacts not just City of Huntingburg people, but people out in the county in that area as well,” Blessinger said.

Blessinger also spoke about the property tax system and the roles the county assessor, auditor and treasurer play, calling them the unsung heroes of the process. The assessor assigns values to properties, the auditor applies tax credits, and the treasurer sends the bills and collects payments. Property tax bills will be mailed out soon, Blessinger said, this year in magenta envelopes. Blessinger started the tradition of sending property tax bills in brightly colored envelopes two years ago when he was treasurer.

“Who doesn’t like magenta?” Blessinger asked. “And Treasurer (Kitty)  Merkley said if they had a glitter option, she would have taken it.”

Hunefeld focused on two studies the County Council has underway: tax abatements and wages. Councilwoman Becky Beckman has taken the lead on studying the county’s tax abatement process and coming up with best practices. The wage study, spearheaded by Councilwoman Charmian Klem, began last year when the council partnered with masters students from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business to conduct the study. The council is currently meeting with department heads to discuss the study and make sure it accurately represents what’s going on in the departments. From there, the council will decide how to proceed.

“It’s basically a salary issue,” Hunefeld said. “We want to reward them financially the proper way. In order to do that, we have to know what kind of work they do.”

Both Blessinger and Hunefeld praised the county’s Emergency Management Agency and their response to the tornado in Ireland earlier this month.

Greater Jasper Schools

During her presentation, Lorey offered a snapshot of the five schools that make up Greater Jasper Schools: Fifth Street School, Tenth Street School, Ireland Elementary, Jasper Middle School and Jasper High School. The student body is roughly 85 percent Caucasian and 15 percent Hispanic, with other races slightly represented. Within the student body, 5.6 percent are English language learners, 14 percent need special education programs and 32 percent are on free- or reduced-price lunch programs.

“We do have poverty in our community,” Lorey said. “And poverty brings to the classroom a lot of different types of challenges that our teachers have to face each day.”

Lorey also exulted the school system’s many successes. The corporation earned an A rating from the Indiana Department of Education, it offers a variety of dual-credit and advanced-placement classes to high school students, it offers high school credits to eighth graders, and has many teachers with masters degrees.

Lorey acknowledged that enrollment projections are down for the next school year, which will lead to less state funding for daily operating expenses. Still, Lorey expects the corporation to remain stable, thanks in part to the school’s rainy day fund, which acts as a savings account.

“We try very hard to push dollars that may be in excess at the end of each calendar year into the rainy day in the event of emergencies or any shortfalls that could occur as the result of drops in enrollment,” Lorey said.