by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

There is good news on taxes for local government in Hamilton County, and therefore the public. Good news in the fact that Local Income Tax (LIT) revenue next year will increase at least somewhat despite the effects of the pandemic.

Local government depends on LIT to provide around half the funds required to operate public services and facilities. The 1 percent tax is levied on all county wage earners, and there had been fears that with job losses by some individuals, the overall tax revenue would be reduced.

County Auditor Robin Mills has received information from the state revenue department that projects Hamilton County, including its municipal units, will receive $188.4 million next year, amounting to a $15 million increase.

But Mills cautions that this is based on collections from July 1, 2019 through August 31, 2020 rather than last year’s collection estimates made from July 1, 2018 through only June 30, 2019.

The tax money is collected by state authorities and refunded to counties. LIT was formerly known as the County Option Income Tax or COIT.

The projections are usually very accurate and may even be a bit conservative based on past experience. The projected amount is about 8 percent more than the past year’s collections.

This money combined with property tax revenue should allow county and municipal governments to fund their budgets for public services without having the cut back on their plans for next year.

Of the total distribution, county government is projected to receive $50.1 million. Among the cities, Carmel will get $44.6 million, Fishers $30.5 million and Noblesville $24.3 million.

Other units will be disbursed lesser amounts, but even townships will share around $12 million and public libraries about $11 million.