On April 10, Gov. Mike Braun signed House Bill 1131 into law.
Cumberland, Indiana, sits on the border of Marion and Hancock counties, about 20 minutes east of downtown Indianapolis. HB 1131, authored by Rep. Doug Miller, R-Elkhart, will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2027 and grants the town “excluded city” status.
The western portion of Cumberland is a part of Marion County and the Consolidated City of Indianapolis. This means that Cumberland is currently an “included town” and is subject to Indianapolis city government. Becoming an excluded city will legally separate the western portion of Cumberland from the rest of the capital city.
Benjamin Lipps, Cumberland town manager, called the bill “transformative” in an email to TheStatehouseFile.com and praised how it granted “autonomy in Marion County that we’ve lacked for decades.”
Lipps highlighted the many ways in which the day-to-day government operations of the Town of Cumberland have been entangled with Indianapolis.
“We’ve historically had no authority over zoning, permits, code enforcement or planning services,” he said. Additionally, residents of the western portion of Cumberland pay taxes to the City of Indianapolis.
Planning services were a core component of Cumberland’s decision to lobby for HB 1131. Currently, Cumberland has no control over the planning and zoning that takes place in the town’s Marion County area. Those decisions are made by Indianapolis, affecting the more than 40% of Cumberland residents who reside in Marion County. This shift in planning and zoning power will allow Cumberland to develop its own comprehensive plan—a common city-planning tool used to prepare for future development.
The western portion of Cumberland has been a part of Indianapolis since Unigov merged the City of Indianapolis with Marion County in 1970. In the original Unigov structure, municipalities with more than 5,000 residents, like Lawrence and Speedway, were granted “excluded city” status and retained significant autonomy.
Lipps spoke to the state of affairs today.
“We currently maintain roads and provide policing in Marion County’s Cumberland area,” he said. Residents of the Marion County area of Cumberland will still be able to vote in Marion County elections, but they will pay taxes to the Town of Cumberland. As previously reported by Indy Star, Indianapolis took a “neutral” position on HB 1131. The bill’s fiscal note found that Indianapolis would lose $39,000 in tax revenue from Cumberland residents, compared to the city’s 2025 revenue of $1,650,989,860.
Lipps said, “This will be a new Cumberland that is equitable no matter which county you live in.”
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