Monroe County food, beverage tax back on table

By Andy Graham and Mercedes Rodriguez, Herald-Times

agraham@heraldt.com; mrodriguez@heraldt.com

The idea of a Monroe County food and beverage tax isn't quite dead up at the Indiana General Assembly, after all.

A bill that passed a Senate committee Thursday providing a tax-based bailout for the struggling Indianapolis Capitol Improvement Board, which operates that city's sports stadiums, is also providing a vehicle for proposals from other municipalities.

Included is language first introduced in the House by state Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington. It would allow Bloomington and Monroe County officials to discuss the possibility of expanding their convention center, with the option of pursuing a 1 percent food and beverage tax projected to raise $1.7 million per year.