Noblesville council adopts ordinance to move food-and-beverage tax into a separate fund

The Noblesville City Common Council unanimously adopted Ordinance No. 11-2-26 on Feb. 24, creating budget authority to spend food-and-beverage tax revenues from a newly required separate fund.

Tom McDonald, deputy financial officer, told the council the ordinance implements a 2025 state-law change that requires local units to establish a distinct food-and-beverage tax fund and appropriate revenue from that fund. "This ordinance includes, fiscally neutral appropriation adjustments that are needed due to a change in state law," McDonald said, adding that the city previously deposited those revenues into the downtown development fund and the general fund.

McDonald said the ordinance is not changing how the funding is used, only how it is budgeted: "We're not changing how the funding is being used, just how it's budgeted." The council opened and closed the public hearing without public testimony and moved to approve the measure.

The clerk called the roll for the adoption vote; the clerk recorded 'Aye' for Mr. Boyce, Mr. Elliott, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Peterson, Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Smith, Mr. Thurston, Ms. Wiles and Mr. Davis. The tally was recorded as 9 ayes and 0 nays, and the ordinance was approved.

Because the ordinance implements a technical, fiscally neutral reclassification driven by state law, council members did not identify changes to spending priorities during the meeting. The council did not specify an effective date in the discussion at the meeting.

The council moved on to other routine business after the vote.