Greencastle Mayor discusses property tax impact

Since the first mention of property tax reform was uttered this year at the Indiana Statehouse, Greencastle Mayor Lynda Dunbar has kept a watchful eye on the General Assembly to see what impact any cut would have on her city. 

And, with Senate Bill 1 being approved and passed by the General Assembly, Dunbar now knows her city will have to tighten the belt quite a bit over the next few years. 

"We have a plan over the next three years, but it appears that we will be losing money and then towards the end of the three years, we will have the option of adding a local income tax," Dunbar told The Putnam County Post. 

While the city runs "pretty lean," according to Dunbar, the first term mayor is now faced with what cuts, if any, to make in the future when it comes to personnel and services. 

"Currently, the city runs pretty lean. We are going to get leaner. We don't have much areas to get leaner, so in a time where we have so many roads and infrastructure needs, there is always something coming up. I was at an event recently where someone was giving me a hard time about the trails and how some of the trails need to be repaired. I said, yes the trails, pathways, roads and sidewalks. We get a lot of grant money to build these things, but there is never any grant money to maintain these things. Here we are in a period of time where we are going to make less money, but we have more and more of a demand on our infrastructure," she said..

In addition, Dunbar said the city wants to continue offering quality of life amenities, and she has heard talk that residents want a new park on the north end of town near the proposed county annex building and the Putnam Inn. 

"Yeah, that would be great, but it is another park that has to be maintained and taken care of and mowed," Dunbar said. 

Recently, Dunbar and Greencastle Clerk-Treasurer Mikayla Johnson conducted a program called The ABC's of Property Taxes, which can be found at cityofgreencastle.com. 

"We went through the statement that you receive from the Courthouse in the mail the other day in the pink envelope. If you have questions, I would encourage you to go to our website and check that out because I went step by step on what we use our property tax on. About 70 percent of our property tax is the budget for the park, the cemetery and about 47-48 percent is the general fund. Property taxes are huge for the city of Greencastle. As we want more, we get cut and we lose that," Dunbar said. 

And, the cuts and pain will be felt next year, Dunbar acknowledged. 

"Next year, with our property tax caps and adjustments, we will probably lose just under a million dollar. We will be losing a chunk. Right now we lose about $550 thousand," Dunbar said

Despite the cuts, Dunbar said there is some good news, but also warns cuts will be coming. 

"The good thing is both the clerk-treasurer and myself are accountants, so we will be able to sit down to make some cutbacks this year. We have started the process already. Cash reserves are so important. The city has been over the years very financially sound, frugal and we spend within our means, and we will make it through, but there are things that will have to be cut back on," Dunbar said.