County preps for budget hearings

The annual Owen County budget hearings are just around the corner, with three days scheduled to plan the county's budget for 2026.

The hearings are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 27 through Friday, Aug. 29, starting at 8 a.m. in the commissioner's room on the second floor of the Owen County Courthouse, located at 60 S. Main St., Spencer.

But this year, due to the passing of property tax relief elements in Senate Bill 1, the county will have to cut between $300,000 and $400,000 from their budget, and the exact impact of that

"Property taxes are a primary source of funding for local government units, including counties, cities and towns, townships, libraries and other special districts including fire districts and solid waste districts. Property taxes are administered and collected by local government officials," according to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) website.

Council President Polly Chesser said that she still doesn't have an exact picture of what the impact will be for the county's budget, despite budgets being required to be submitted to DLGF by Oct. 1.

"I have been to at least two different state backed events to learn more about this and they basically got up and talked for 45 minutes trying to explain SEA (Senate Enrolled Act) 1 and at the end they pretty much said in both of them we really don't know what the impact is going to be," Chesser said. "That has given us a huge unknown to go into budget hearings."

County Councilman Anton Neff said that the Legislative Services Agency estimates that Owen County government stands to lose approximately $350,000 in revenue from property tax.

"Now other units of government, like the schools, townships, the library, that also get property tax, they'll also have a certain dollar amount of loss that is projected by that same group," Neff said.

The total tax impact in Owen County, which includes the other units of government, was estimated to be about $1 million during the last county council meeting.

"Now, whether or not that's accurate, whether or not that ends up being the actual amount once next year starts and property taxes are billed, etc, whether or not that's accurate, no idea. It is a starting point, though. It's what we have from the state," Neff said.

The council and the auditor's office are trying to use data from the assessor's office and previous properties that qualified for the homestead exemption to estimate the change in property taxes.

"Fortunately, the amount of the loss is not near what it originally would have been, and that would have been a tougher thing to adjust to. You're talking millions of dollars at that point. So definitely, in kind of the context, $350,000 is certainly better than what it could have been," Neff said.

In preparation of the loss in revenue, the council liaisons for the various departments have asked department heads to be conservative in their requests and try to hold to their current budgets as best as they can.

Neff was confident in the county's ability to make due with the loss in property tax revenue for 2026.

"I would generally tell folks we are so fortunate not to have any significant debt other than your typical vehicle loans and things like that. We don't have any major obligations that are active at the moment. Yes, we're working on a jail project, and that will involve debt, but we have earmarked money for that. So at the moment, we're fortunate there," Neff said. "We also have decent cash balances that have built up over the last couple of years, and so that allows us to help weather a storm or a challenge like this. So we would be in a much different negative situation if we had tapped out all of our debt and had low cash balances, and that is certainly not the case, and we're very thankful for that."

He also reiterated that the county has other revenue sources such as the motor vehicle fuel tax and income tax.

"There's a lot of moving parts. As we work through the process, more and more of those become clearer, more accurate," he said.

At this time, the council has no plans to levy additional taxes.

"The council did express or re-express its desire to work within our means, and I think that's something we need to honor," Neff said.

"None of us are in favor of piling another tax burden on our citizens when they're already stressed out as it is," Chesser added.

Chesser expressed disappointment in the quick changes to property tax that was made in this year's legislative session. She also expressed frustration by the notion from the state that counties would need to tighten spending.

"I understand not all counties are like our county. We are a very frugal council. We try not to blatantly spend money. We take it very seriously. It's not our money; it's the taxpayers money," she said. "I feel like it was rushed. I feel like it wasn't vetted well. I feel like there's so many unknowns, and it is so complicated that nobody really understands it fully, and they don't know what the impact is going to be."

She also was concerned that those that need the relief the most won't receive it, despite the impact it has on county governments.

"The problem is I think the average person is going to be very disappointed on how much they save because it's not going to amount to that much, but it is going to cumulatively impact the county governments." Chesser said.

If a property owner qualifies for the full amount of relief, they could save up to $300 on their annual property tax bill.

Chesser said that while it would have a drastic impact on Owen County, she's more in favor of providing direct relief to the elderly and those with the greatest need for relief.

"To me that is just, it's wrong. I mean, for an elderly person on a fixed income to lose their house to a tax sale because they can't afford their property taxes. That's just wrong," she said.

Neff encouraged citizens to attend the budget workshops in person or to watch them online.

"It is the one stop shop opportunity for the public to really learn and understand the various departments and issues that are facing county government, and the challenges we have to face, the problems we have to solve, the reasons why it costs so much for X or Y or Z," Neff said. "It is my favorite time of the year because of that, and I think that it's a golden opportunity. And we will encourage questions and would be happy to answer questions that people have."