Election Board Agenda May 9 2019 Meeting

Location:  “Makers Space” at the Junior High School, 95 School House Lane

• May 23 @ 6:00
• JUNE 12 – Playhouse 6:00 PM – Draft Econ Plan
• June 27 @ 6:00
• July 25 @ 6:00
• Aug. 22 @ 6:00
• Sept. 26 @ 6:00
• Oct. 24 @ 6:00
• NOV 13 –Review Final Economic Development Plan – Playhouse 6:00 P.M
• Nov. 28 @ 6:00
• Dec. 26 @ 6:00  (that may need to be adjusted due to proximity to the holidays)

Apr 9, 2019, BCD, Staff Reports. Former highway leader shares concerns about gravel roads

Former highway superintendent Ron Fleetwood presented a slideshow on the condition of gravel roads in Van Buren Township at the Brown County Commissioners meeting March 20.

“You’d like to blame the condition on the road on wet weather,” he said. “It’s that way all summer. The same thing happens in the same place all the time.”

Fleetwood showed photos of Elkinsville and Blue Creek roads with potholes, culvert, ditch and berm issues.

“I understand it’s a gravel road. I hear people say they knew it was gravel when they moved there, but they have the right to expect to have a reasonably well maintained road,” he said.

He also showed a photo of a wooden bridge on Blue Creek Road that was covered in mud.

“If that bridge fails, there’s no way for emergency services or anybody to get there. That bridge definitely needs to be cleaned off,” he said.

Fleetwood said he has gone out to the gravel roads two days after they are graded and the potholes are back because they are not cut out by highway department crews and are filled with loose material only.

“If we had money upfront to pave all the roads, it would be cheaper to maintain them than gravel roads,” commissioner Jerry Pittman said. “Those left with gravel are more expensive to maintain and more expensive for people to drive on. Until we find $30 million to finish paving the roads, we’re stuck with taking care of the gravel roads.”

Pittman said he spoke with Brown County Highway Superintendent Mike Magner about getting gravel crowns back onto the roads in Van Buren Township. Magner, who sat through Fleetwood’s presentation, said he would work on that.

Brown County Road Paving Plans and Examples from other counties

Road and Bridge Maintenance Information

Capital Improvement Plans and Budgets

Aug 15, 2019. BCD Bridge inspection report: More than $9 million in work needed to replace bridges over… by Suzannah Couch.  Brown County is looking at more than $9 million worth of bridge work needing to be done in the next nine years …

Helmsburg RSD rates are the highest in the county at $92.50. Helmsburg needs more customers.

Bean Blossom has not had enough customers to support a plant of their own and had to expand their proposed service area to include Woodland Lake, Freeman Ridge and Little Fox Lake.  The proposed plan by the BCRSD Board for a $7.3 million wastewater treatment plant in Bean Blossom does not address county-wide needs to include a plan for Helmsburg.  Commissioner Jerry Pittman took the initiative to facilitate joint meetings of the RSDs to discuss needs and areas of concern.

• HRSD – Helmsburg Regional Sewer District (HRSD) Board
• BCRSD – Brown County Regional Sewer District (GRSD) Board
• NRSD – Nashville Regional Sewer District Board
• BC – Brown County

Apr 30, 2019 HRSD Board Meeting. 

• Passed the resolution for the rate change to $92.50.
• HRSD Proposed Options v2 2019_05_01 Presented by Bill Austin. Includes an additional option: Funding to be proposed for a $600,000 OCRA Grant including $60,000 for engineering study via County Council.

April 9, 2019.  HRSD Proposed Options version 1  20190401 Presented by Bill Austin, at the BCRSD Board Meeting.

April 4, 2019.  “First” Joint Meeting of County RSDs. Joint Meeting – Brown County Areas Sewer Boards 2019_04_01

• Nashville identified that “annexation”  would be used for areas such as Annadale, that want sewer service.  Note the annexation requirement was proposed by Nashville for providing service to Bean Blossom area residents. The Nashville proposal was rejected by the BCRSD Board at the time.

March 25,2019.  Helmsburg RSD Special Meeting 2019_03_25

• Commissioner Pittman offered to facilitate a Joint Meeting of the RSDs – offer was accepted by the HRSD Board.

March 18, 2019 – HRSD Meeting Minutes.2019_03_18 HRSD Meeting Minutes

Brown County Road Inventory 

• Spreadsheet – 2020_02_11 Pavement Inventory and Condition
• Instructions Spreadsheet – Inventory of Roads

Brown County Road Paving Plans

• ROAD PAVING PLAN 2018-2020
• ROAD PAVING PLAN 2015-2017 COMPLETED

Feb 12, 2020.  BCD.  Plans are to pave more than 10 miles of county roads this year By Suzannah Couch.  For the last five years, more than 20 miles of roads have been repaved each year, and the county is on track to continue that trend this year.

• Annual Road Maintenance Program
• Draft – Bridge Maintenance Program
• The Washington County Transportation System Plan (TSP) is a component of the Washington County Comprehensive Plan that defines the transportation system desired for the future and how it can be achieved.

A five-year trend on assessments and taxes for individual property owners is available at the following: https://brownin.wthgis.com.

I contacted the vendor WTHGIS to see if I can get a copy of the file to support the analysis of trends but they said they could not provide.   (I had two offers from major organizations to provide analytical support on a pro-bono basis (for free) to help identify our challenges and opportunities.)

In the interim in order to learn more about assessments, I pulled data from the State on the trends from 2012 to 2019 on “Adjusted Net Assessed Valuation.”  Assessed values can correlate to revenue collected from property taxes.

Initial Analysis 2012-2019.

• Download Excel File: 20190430 adjusted net assessed valuation 2012-2019
• PDF File  20190430 adjusted net assessed valuation 2012-2019\

Assessed values increased from a range of 7% to 16% “EXCEPT” for the Town of Nashville where assessed values decreased by 1%.  The JUMP in 2019 assessments is significant.  Is this an outlier or an indicator of more to come?  What happended in other counties?

Increases in gross assessed values by county –Brown County is among the 58 where values increased by 3% or more – per the auditor, a similar increase projected for next year (2020 payable in 2021).

• DLGF 2019 AV Comparison–All Approved Counties

More Information on context:

April 9, 2019. BCD, Property tax bills are in the mail by Sara Clifford.  A property’s assessed value is one of the figures used to calculate a tax bill. … Overall, the net assessed value of property across all of Brown County — the taxable value after exemptions are subtracted — has grown by $35.5 million since tax year 2017.

Citizens Guide to Property Tax “Local spending is the reason for property tax rate increases – or decreases – depending on local fiscal management.”

Jan 30, 2018. Brown County uses a contractor to develop assessments

Information – Links to other Counties

• Assessors Office – Newton County – (Population 14K).  Includes links to their Facebook Page
• Tippecanoe County -Access Property Tax & Assessment Records.  They use Beacon GIS Software
  • Assessment Process – Commercial and Industrial Properties
  • DLGF Beacon Basic
• DLGF Fact Sheet (2014) – Annual Adjustment of Assessed Values

Our county government (commissioners and council) have identified their intent to borrow an estimated $10 -12 million to build a new Justice Center ($10 million)and to renovate/re-purpose the historic courthouse ( $1-2 million?). The second floor of the courthouse will be used to create offices for our “part-time” commissioners.

Citizens should expect commissioners and councilman to address some basic questions:

• What documentation is available that identifies the compelling need for this project?
• Was a workload analysis completed to support the size and scope of the facility?
• Where is the documentation that identifies the alternatives and their respective pros and cons?
• Where is the documentation that identifies the counties projected revenues and expenses over the life of the loan for these combined projects (justice center and historic courthouse) that supports that this project represents the best option for the county and is financially responsible?

PROPOSED JUSTICE CENTER PROJECT.  For the background on this project, see  Proposed Justice Center and Historic Courthouse – For the Record

• Letter – “Consider other ways for project to proceed”
• Population Projections 2020-2050.

FINANCIAL PLAN 2016-2021. The presentation of the “first-ever” Five Year Financial Plan (2016-2021) on April 4, 2019, identified significant financial challenges. The suggestion is to increase taxes, max out the income tax rate which will the lead to the need to increase the property tax rate and/or cut the size and scope of government.

• April 16, 2019. BCD State of the county’s coffers: Company gives financial recommendations to officials  by Suzanna Couch
• Brown County Matters – Facebook Post discussing the issues

COUNTY TAX POLICIES

Last year, Umbaugh and Associates (Now Baker Tilly) provided a presentation at the library that illustrated the complexity of our tax system – The Basics of Local Government Budgeting.   The information included  “scenarios” (pages 22-24) regarding transitioning from the high-income tax rate/low property tax rate option.

IU/SPEA SUPPORT

2018. In partnership with IU/SPEA, graduate students have prepared two reports for us. The report last year (2018 Brown County Financial Decision Support Model, covered tax policy, trends, and projections.  Note page 19: ” “The average increase in levy and budget indicate increasing tax burden on a diminishing tax base. Based on these calculations, Brown County’s needs are out-pacing its ability to levy property taxes.”

• July 4, 2018. Brown County Democrat.  IU students discuss how data can guide county’s financial decisions by Sara Clifford. A group of Indiana University graduate students spent last semester studying Brown County’s tax structure and other variables. Their goal was to help county leaders develop tools to forecast how changes in taxes, spending, and the county’s economy will affect taxpayers and local government — a “county financial and decision support model.”

 2017. The 2017 IU/SPEA Report: Economic Analysis provided an excellent overview of county economics.

STATS Indiana – Annual Commuting Trends Profile, Brown County, Indiana – Based on Indiana IT-40 Returns for Tax Year 2017

• Total number of people who work in Brown County (implied workforce): 7,415
• Number of people who live in Brown County but work outside the county: 3,622
• Percent: 49%

IU SPEA Economic Analysis Report – Employed Inside and Outside the County – 2011-2015: Pg. 13-14

Disclaimer:  I’ve routinely registered as a Republican in the primaries but do not vote a straight-party ticket.   I advocate for a nonpartisan political platform.

Mr. Biddle is a recent Republican appointment (April 2019) to the county election board. He made comments on the Brown County Matters (BCM) facebook post referring to the “5-minute crowd” and “Brown County Lifers.”  I asked for his definition of these terms and he did not respond.  (References below).

He did provide clarification on his personal Facebook page where he associated the “five-minute crowd”  with new residents to the county.  He stated:  “Of course relative new comers have a voice – from the BACK of the bus.”

Political Context. Mr. Biddle is the husband of Commissioner (R) Diana Biddle. Mr. Biddle along with his proxy and former county commissioners John Kennard (R), was selected by the Republican County Party Chair – Mark Bowman to serve on the county election board. Mark Bowman and his wife Robyn are realtors and owners of Tramcore Realty. Robyn Bowman is a Vice-Precinct Committeeman.

Opponents to Mr. Biddle’s nomination cited a conflict of interest that was determined not to be sufficient to prevent his appointment.  Commissioner Diana Biddle was accused of an electioneering violation during the 2018 primaries and due to a conflict of interest,  the complaint was referred to a special prosecutor in Jackson County.  Reference: Sept 25, 2019, BCD, Special prosecutor to investigate election complaints by Sara Clifford.

John Kennard is a former Republican commissioner and was appointed in 2019 to the Parks and Recreation Board. Mr. Kennard was nominated to the Parks and Recreation board by Councilman Bill Hamilton whose wife Judy is the GOP county party secretary.  Mr. Kennard also applied to serve on the Brown County Regional Sewer District Board but was not selected by the county council.  One of the reasons that was given was that he was too controversial.

REFERENCES

April 11, 2019. BCM Facebook Post – Screen Shot of Mr. Biddles post: in which he states: “Of course relative new comers have a voice – from the BACK of the bus.”  This statement contradicts his earlier posts that stated that he plans on representing all the voters.”

April 5, 2019. BCM Facebook Post – Joint Meeting – Commissioners and Council – Proposed Justice Center and Five Year County Financial Plan

2019 Meeting Dates – Location is the County Office Building, Salmon Room, Start time 6:00.

April 11, 2019 – Amy Kelso elected President.  Sherrie Mitchell (D) and John Kennard (R) accepted as proxies.  Priority for the 2020 election is to review the lease for the voting machines.  A proposal for Voting Centers will be reviewed immediately following the 2020 elections.  The meeting lasted about an hour.

• Audio Recording: n/a

May 9, 2019.

June 13, 2019.

July 11, 2019

Aug 8, 2019.

Sep 12, 2019.

Oct 10, 2019.

Nov 14, 2019

Dec 12, 2019.