Indiana Ways and Means hears wide-ranging testimony on Senate Bill 1; lawmakers, data show tradeoffs between homeowner relief and local services

Senate Bill 1 drew more than four hours of focused presentation and a long public-comment period before the House Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 11, exposing a central tension in Indiana tax policy: whether to freeze local property-tax growth to give homeowners predictable bills now, or preserve locally controlled revenue that funds police, fire, transit and schools.

Backers of SB 1 described a recent run-up in home assessments and urged limits to future automatic increases. “As of 01/01/2025, there's $54,000,000,000 of debt that is owed by local units of government,” Sen. Travis Holdman told the committee, raising the broader fiscal concern behind several provisions of the bill. Holdman — the Senate sponsor of the measure — outlined changes including a cap on the Maximum Levy Growth Quotient (MLGQ) for several years, expanded transparency tools, limits on some excess-levy appeals and a new process for taxpayer referenda.

The Department of Local Government Finance presented statewide data intended as a factual baseline. “it is more this is just the data and the facts. It is not in the policy side,” Jamie Bolser, the agency’s deputy commissioner and chief of staff, told the panel as staff walked lawmakers through six years of valuation, levy and levy-outside-the-control calculations. The department’s…