County Council meeting: County pays taxes on take-home vehicles

The county highway superintendent and the county engineer were surprised by an additional tax bill recently.

Each received notice to file back taxes owed for their take-home vehicles for 2010, 2011, and 2012.

According the County Auditor Kathy Hopf, an Internal Revenue Service audit revealed the county should have added the vehicles to the Steve Berg’s and Jason Heile’s taxable income. The two have vehicles they drive between work and home. Those vehicles are not considered emergency vehicles and don’t have necessary equipment that would make them tax exempt for the two employees.

Hopf asked the council to approve a salary ordinance to offset the cost of the preparation of the tax returns for the two employees. She reported that Heile had stated his return for refiling for those years had cost him about $600.

Hopf stated she didn’t feel the county should pay for the employees taxes but did feel the excessive fees to file the amended returns should be paid by the county since they didn’t notify the employees of the taxes correctly.

“I feel it is a burden to them to go pay a tax preparer to complete the amended taxes,” Hopf said.

The council questioned the cost Heile had reported but Hopf said she didn’t feel it was the county’s right to tell someone where to take their taxes to be prepared.

Councilman Greg Kendal joked that he had a special deal with his accountant, “My accountant does mine for free haircuts,” Kendall, a barber, explained, “and he’s bald.”

The council members discussed whether the county should be responsible for the back taxes since the employees didn’t know they owed the taxes. “I kinda feel bad for them,” Councilman Mark Brescher said. “They didn’t know it. This would get me a little riled up if someone gave me a vehicle to drive and then gave me this bill.”

Brescher and Councilman Nick Hostetter agreed that the two employees should have been notified of the tax liability they would incur by using the county supplied vehicles. “I’m just trying to look at it from both sides,” Hostetter said. “I just feel like if we hired somebody and said ‘here’s a car for you to drive. You can take it to and from home every night.’ And then three years later we slap them with a bill because of something we did. We probably oughta pay it.”

Hopf pointed out the tax liability should be that great of an amount for the two employees. The taxable rate is about $3 per workday and Hopf estimated the total income would be an additional $600-$700 per year. She stated that she felt it was the employees responsibility to pay their own taxes but didn’t care what the council decided to do.

The council, by a show of hands, approved Hopf drawing up a salary ordinance to pay for the amended returns and the owed taxes for Heile and Berg. Councilwoman Barb Matheis stated she wouldn’t support paying $600 for the preparation of the taxes; she felt the bill was excessive.

The council also took the following actions.

– Elected Councilman Greg Kendall as president of the council and Councilman Jerry Hunefeld as vice-president.

-Approved $109,000 additional appropriation for the 4-H Fair Grounds. The money will be used to pave a handicap parking lot, complete a ramp, add sidewalks and repair retaining walls at the horse barn and arena.

-Dubois Strong’s newly appointed chair, Dr. Alan Johnson, presented a report on the public/private local economic development organization. Johnson outlined the organization’s accomplishments in 2013 and explained its plans for 2014. He told the council that if a company announced they would open a facility and provide 1000 new jobs for the county, local officials would fall over themselves to assist that company in getting established. Johnson then pointed out that local companies have at least a 1000 current and future job openings but lack qualified employees for those positions. Johnson stated Dubois Strong will align themselves in 2014 to create workforce growth by collaborating with local government, builders, developers, and planners to develop more housing and community improvements to more people to the area.

-Janet Schnell presented the Dubois County Substance Abuse Council Comprehensive Plan. The council approved the substance abuse council’s $35,150.99 budget for 2014. Schnell told the council that since other heavy meth manufacturing states have enacted laws that make it harder for manufacturers to purchase ingredients, Indiana is on the way to becoming the number one manufacturer in the United States. Currently in Indiana, Vanderburgh County is the number one county in Indiana in meth manufacturing, according to state statistics. This concerns Schnell due to the proximity of Vanderburgh County to Dubois County.

-Approved $115,000 for a new truck and two cars for patrol vehicles. Councilman Mark Brescher asked Sheriff Donnie Lampert whether the trucks get better gas mileage than the cars. Lampert said due to the police package engines in the Caprices, the Ford F-150s get better gas mileage. The council also approved $4,000 for new mattresses for the jail; $3,200 for upgraded Tasers; and $30,000 for the operational budget at the jail.

-Heard plans for the refurbished emergency medical services building in Huntingburg and approved an agreement with the City of Huntingburg. Under the agreement with Huntingburg, the county will pay for the utilities, furnishing, and maintenance of the building after Huntingburg refurbishes the building. They also agreed to lease the building from Huntingburg for $1 annually. The building was originally the city’s gas department garage and storage area. Kendall mentioned the building was very old and recollected the Dubois County Solid Waste District was located there at one time.

-Approved wages for employees at Shaneyfelt and Bohnenkemper for services they complete under contract with the county.

-Approved $40,000 for the purchase of electronic poll books.

-Approved adding $30,000 as a line item for contract services for engineering fees while the county attempts to hire a new county engineer. Jason Heile, the county engineer, has left his position to take a job with Daviess County as their engineer.

-Heard that County Coroner Bob Veatch had used a quarter of his budget for 2014 already due to the amount of autopsies performed so far this year.