Council ratifies department heads' and public-safety contracts, cites 4% increase

The South Bend City Council approved several personal service contracts during its Jan. 13 meeting, covering the chief of police, the city supervisor, the building inspector and the city prosecuting attorney, and the public defender contract for indigent defendants. The chair told the council "the only thing that changed is the, 4% increase that department heads received the same as the union employees received." Each contract was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote.

Councilors reviewed a recurring contract clause that excludes "sales tax" language for contractor payments and discussed whether sales tax applies to those service contracts. The prosecutor and other council members said sales tax generally does not apply to the listed services and that any excluded amount would be reported as contractor income for personal tax purposes, not a city sales tax charge.