Since Mayor John Hamilton proposed an increase to the local income tax to fund climate change mitigation policies, officials and residents of Monroe County have raised concerns over how local income taxes are decided.
Hamilton proposed a half percent increase in the local income tax during his address after being sworn in for his second term Jan. 1. The tax, he said, would go to a sustainability fund to mitigate climate change and work for climate justice, he said. He urged the tax increase to be passed in the next six months, though he did not suggest any specific programs the $8 million of annual funding would go to, and there has not been public discussion of it since on the city’s end.
On the county level, Monroe County Council officials have spoken out against the tax, worried that the city would force a tax onto the entire county, based on how local income tax councils vote.
The Bloomington city council, Ellettsville town council, Stinesville town council and the Monroe County council all make up the Monroe County Local Income Tax Council. Each of these bodies receive a number of votes based on how much of the county’s population resides in an area. For example, 58 percent of the Monroe County population lives in Bloomington city limits, and therefore the Bloomington city council receives 58 votes on the local income tax council. The county council has 37, Ellettsville has five and Stinesville has none.
In this case, should a majority of the Bloomington city council want the tax, they would vote yes, overriding the the other three voting blocs.
“People have been alarmed at the sizable increase to the local income tax rate,” county council president Eric Spoonmore said during a Jan. 14 county council meeting.
Marty Hawk, fellow county council member, spoke against the tax on the principal of the lack of proper representation, and nothing to do with the issue of climate change.
“This debate is simply that we have one elected body putting in place a tax on many of us who cannot vote for that body. It could be the best thing since sliced bread, but that’s not the purpose of this debate,” she said at the meeting.
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