County uses Economic Development Income Tax to fund variety of programs
An outspoken critic of the county and City of Jasper’s use of money from a tax fund spoke with the Dubois County Council at the end of its regular meeting on Monday.
Adrian Engelberth is the president of the Freedom Makers, a local Tea Party organization, and he has written several letters regarding the use of Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) funds. He has questioned the true economic value of purchasing private land taking it off of the tax rolls with no true plan for the use of said lands among other expenditures the EDIT funds are used for.
County Council president Greg Kendall invited Engelberth to attend a council meeting to ask questions to the council in regards to their role in the use of EDIT funds.
Kendall informed Engelberth the county council were simply a legislative body that approved the expenditures presented to them by the county commissioners.
Councilman Jerry Hunefeld stated the county council does not have the power to create projects, those must come from an outside body through the commissioners. Hunefeld also stated in his time on the county council the council has never denied the use of EDIT funds for an economic development project brought before them.
Economic Development Income Tax funds are used by the county for subsidized vaccines, 4-H appropriations, GIS (a mapping service used for planning and engineering) fees, the Distressed Road Fund, and property tax relief among other items. $500,000 of these funds were allocated for the purchase of the approximate 50 acres adjacent to the 4-H Fairgrounds in 2011.
Councilwoman Bonnie Luebbehusen explained the county council is just one part of the tax council that votes for the EDIT taxes to be collected.
The county adopted the EDIT tax to fund the construction of the Dubois County Security Center. “When the jail was done, we voted to remove the EDIT taxes, but the the cities have 51 percent of the vote and they kept the tax,” Kendall explained. “The county will continue to receive their share based on that vote.”
Since the county receives the money, the council uses it to fund property tax relief. They have also accumulated$39 million dollars to use for emergencies and necessary expenditures rather than bonding those projects.
Engelberth has stated in the past this is enough money to fund the county for two years and should be allocated for economic development programs and tax relief.
The council stated he would need to approach the county commissioners or Dubois Strong to begin initiatives and those would be brought to the council for approval or disapproval.
“he needs to approach the County Commissioners or Dubois Strong”????? Isn’t that what he was doing……approaching the commissioners? I thought the County Council was made up of the commissioners. Sounds like more political rhetoric to me.
While the County Council and County Commissioners are two different groups of people, the response of the council members quoted in the article did, indeed, sound like rhetoric. Even though Mr. Engelberth was invited by the Council, they really didn’t want to take any action on what he had to say. It sounded like they were passing the buck to the Commissioners. Why did they invite him, then?
The council isn’t the commissioners, but I was requested to come to the council meeting. I will point out, the council never had to vote yes and could have pushed back for better Econ Dev ideas. Council President Kendall pointed out that they have used EDIT to keep property taxes low and save up reserve funds on purpose for a long time. Since EDIT is our tax revenue (not a federal or state kick back) we have the right to push back and ask it be used differently if we so choose. Maybe more money needs to go to Dubois Strong. Maybe we need our taxes returned to us. Maybe more money needs to be put towards advertising Dubois county for business development and improve our image. The people need to give ideas to the commissioners and Dubois Strong AND Jasper, and Huntingburg, etc.
The Freedom Makers meeting tonight has EDIT and Economic Development as one of its main topics. Join us as we discuss the 35 minutes worth of debate from last night as well as well as discussing other important topics.
My main point last night was the county isn’t doing enough for economic development. Stats show the average and median age for Dubois County is growing older, and kids are not returning because the jobs they want aren’t here. EDIT needs to be used for more than just roads and keeping property tax rates low (even though high property values do more to keep rates low than anything). The commissioners and Dubois Strong need ideas for using this funds and maybe the public needs to get involved. That was brough tup last night as well, public involvement.