Henry County councils correct local income-tax distribution to volunteer fire departments

Henry County city and county council members voted to approve a resolution and an ordinance to correct how a portion of the county—s local income tax is distributed to volunteer fire departments and to Newcastle.

The councils approved Resolution 2025-02-03-001, revising a prior resolution authorizing allocation of revenue to volunteer fire departments and the Newcastle Fire Department, and Ordinance 2025-1, modifying Henry County—s local income tax rates. Shannon, a council member who led the preparation of the reworked documents, said the action is intended to send corrected figures to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance for recertification.

Shannon said the problem arose after the DLGF interpreted a 0.05 figure as a single total amount to be divided among departments rather than as the percentage to be applied in each department—s individual calculation. "The DLGF has misinterpreted the intent of the resolution that we had," Shannon said. He said the resolution passed last July and related documents were sent to the DLGF, but the DLGF—s award used the 0.05 as a total rather than applying it across departments, producing incorrect distributions.

The amended resolution includes a corrective percentage (listed in meeting documents as 0.0276) that reflects the calculation the councils say should have been used. The meeting packet distributed by Shannon shows the county—s total distribution ($2,255,554.34 on the sheet cited during the meeting) will increase after the DLGF recertifies distributions and reverses the amounts it incorrectly awarded to some fire departments. Shannon told the councils that the volunteer departments have only received one monthly disbursement under the incorrect distribution to date; the difference will be deducted and the departments will receive equalized disbursements for the remainder of the year so the annual totals match the intended allocation.

Shannon and other council speakers also noted the DLGF—s miscalculation affected the county—s PSAP (9-1-1) tax rate certification. "They came in with .0904 as our PSAP tax rate, and we know that we passed the PSAP tax rate of .1. So this will point that out to them as well," Shannon said. He added the councils hope the DLGF will recertify all numbers, while acknowledging there is a possibility the state agency could decline to do so.

There was no public comment at the hearing. The County Council motion to approve the resolution and ordinance was moved by Shannon and seconded by another council member; the county recorded the motion as passing 7-0. The city council likewise moved and seconded approval and recorded the measures as passed.

Speakers at the meeting urged township trustees and volunteer departments to apply for the allocation in 2025 if they were not included last year. Shannon and another council speaker encouraged township trustees to work with Jeff Beal of the Indiana Volunteer Firefighters Association, whom the council said collected the volunteer departments— data for the earlier allocation and helped develop the enabling legislation.

Next steps: the county will forward the amended resolution and ordinance to the Department of Local Government Finance for review and recertification; the councils said they will hold another meeting in July if needed to address additional requests or corrections.