Tax Increase Meeting Tonight at Tipp City

Tipp City Council will be considering the motion to decrease the local income tax credit that is currently in place. The issue was the subject of a contentious City Council meeting on September 21st where many citizens attended and voiced their opposition to the new tax scheme. The final vote was set for that night, but was suddenly tabled by its sponsor, Council Member John Kessler. The reduction in the local income tax credit would mean that residents who live in Tipp City, but work outside the City would pay higher local taxes to both Tipp City, and the City where they work. Tonight’s meeting will address this, and the 2010 budget process, which was delayed by the need for cuts, and (some will say) public outcry about how the City approached this.
​After a series of budget meetings, and a town hall-style get together, the City’s
2010 budget was finalized with nearly $200,000 in departmental operating cuts in order to fund two long-overdue street-paving projects. Similarly, the City’s Capital Improvement Program also contained over $164,000 in additional cuts when compared to the initial proposal. However a deficit is still possible, as income tax revenues continue to be much less than this time last year or the year prior. The City’ spending has been the subject of public scrutiny for some time, including articles submitted to this web-site (see “Hey Council-Stop Spending” from earlier this year). It was also the subject of the local elections with several candidates weighing-in on the issue of taxes and spending.
​Tonight’s meeting will be the climax of this often-contentious process with the
City’s plan to not to lay-off any city workers for now. Both the capital improvement program, and the 2010 operating budget are the subject of the final reading and vote by the current city council of which 3 members will be leaving office as of this meeting. Council Members Bill Beagle, Tim Evans, and Vicki Blakey all chose not to seek re-election, and this is their final meeting of their tenures. The new council will be sworn-in at the next regularly- scheduled meeting on January 4, 2009. The new members of City Council are Joe Gibson, Katlyn Black, and Brian Budding. Pat Hale, the lone incumbent who ran on 2009 was re-elected, and will be sworn-in for a second term as well. The remaining members of the Tipp City Council (who are all up for re-election in 2011) are George Lovett, the longest-serving member of council as of January, John Kessler, and Dee Gillis.
​While the City’s Budget is now in place, the issue of the reduction in the city‘s local tax credit has not been resolved, and the final vote on this is tonight. The City Council could still approve the measure, which means it would enact the new tax structure applicable to residents who work out outside the city. This would mean more taxes for them. Or the measure could go down in defeat if 4 members of the City Council vote against it. Finally the measure could be withdrawn altogether if the sponsor of the measure chooses to do so. In this case the sponsor is
Council Member John Kessler who himself has had tax problems recently. Local residents were up-in-arms over this attempt to raise taxes without a vote from the Citizens, and indicated
their displeasure at the September 21st meeting. Just how many residents will remember this, and know to show at tonight’s meeting remains to be seen. The Meeting is at the Government
Center at 7:30 p.m. It will be televised on the Tipp-Monroe Cable Access Commission in the 2 weeks following the meeting. Check this web-site, or the City’s Web-site for actual broadcast
times.