LAPORTE — The county council has increased the local income tax to fund public safety.
It was approved by the LaPorte County Council on Monday in a 6-1 vote.
Money generated by the increase in the tax from .095% to 1.45% will go to competitive wages to stop paramedics, police and other public safety workers from leaving for much higher pay elsewhere, officials said.
Also eligible for the dollars are things like updated public safety equipment and a new LaPorte County Jail if there’s a decision at some point to replace the aging facility.
Councilman Earl Cunningham said a considerable amount of time was taken to gauge public sentiment before deciding on the proposal.
He said all municipalities in the county approved resolutions in support of the tax hike and 56 of the 60 elected officials in those communities supported the increase.
“If you were giving away free candy, I don’t know if you could get 93% of the people to agree,” he said.
Officials said the need was created several years ago by the lowering property taxes statewide, a move costing local governments millions of dollars in revenue.
More than 70 of the 92 counties in the state have already raised their income taxes to make up for the shortfall, officials said.
LaPorte Mayor Tom Dermody led the charge for the higher tax.
He said the tax had to be raised to stem the tide of first responders leaving for much better wages in other counties and to preserve the quality of public safety.
Dermody said higher pay is also deserved because the job of a police officer has become increasingly difficult.
“What they face on a daily basis is a different world than many years ago. Let’s not wait for a tragedy. Let's not wait for further officers to leave. Give them the security,” he said.
Dermody also said other ideas like dipping into cash reserves to increase wages were only short-term fixes because those accounts would eventually run out of money.
An estimated $13 million will be generated annually by the higher tax.
About half of the revenue will go to county government while much of the remaining money will be collected by LaPorte and Michigan City, officials said.
The balance of the funds will be shared by towns such as Westville, Trail Creek and LaCrosse.
Michigan City City Councilman Paul Przybylinski opposed to the tax.
He said Michigan City has already taken good care of its police officers and firefighters and he believed the higher tax was unfair given the high poverty rate in the county and high inflation nationwide.
“It’s bad timing to do this. A lot of people are really hurting and they’re going to be hurting even more,” he said.
Officials said the increase will cost someone with $30,000 in taxable income just over $200 a year.
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