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Boone County Council advances resolution to seek temporary public-safety income tax for three volunteer fire departments
Summary
The Boone County Council voted to advance a resolution proposing a two-year public-safety local income tax to raise an estimated roughly $500,000 and to split the first $500,000 equally among the Advance, Jamestown and Thorntown volunteer fire departments; any excess will be returned to other taxing units. The resolution moves to the municipalities for separate hearings and votes.
The Boone County Council voted on a resolution to propose an ordinance that would modify local income tax rates for two years to support three volunteer fire departments: Advance, Jamestown and Thorntown. The resolution passed by voice vote after council discussion about distribution, timing and statutory thresholds.
County staff told the council the proposal is built on a 0.01 rate estimate and Baker Tilly revenue projections that would produce "a little bit more than $500,000" if enacted, and staff recommended allocating $500,000 of that to the three departments and returning any excess pro rata to other taxing units. Staff member 10 summarized the next steps: if the resolution passes here, it must be sent to municipal taxing bodies (Lebanon, Whitestown, Zionsville and others) for their hearings and ordinance votes; the tax would take effect only if bodies representing more than 50% of the county population adopt it.
"If the resolution passes here today, then Debbie has to send it out to all the other taxing entities," County staff said, describing the statutorily required review and local adoption process. The council debated but did not change the draft distribution language; members also discussed consolidation, long-term funding approaches and whether the measure should be a stopgap while statewide statutory changes are resolved.
After the vote the council directed staff to prepare the final resolution language, including geographic and assessed-valuation references for Jamestown, and to circulate the measure to other taxing units within the required timeline. The resolution does not itself enact a tax; it moves the county to the next procedural step required under state law.
