Beginning in September, officers of the Knightstown Police Department will have to adjust to a convenience they won't have any more: taking their police cars home with them.
This is one measure the Knightstown Town Council is taking to cope with the anticipated loss of revenue for 2011 due to property tax caps.
"We have estimated that the town will have up to 20 percent less revenue for the fiscal year 2011," Council President Terry Guerin said. "That translates into a 14 percent reduction in our budget. According to the clerk-treasurer, that means $92,000 less money to work with."
Of all the towns in Henry County, Knightstown is hardest hit by property tax caps. Officials of Middletown, Spiceland and Sulphur Springs have reported considerably less hardship - or none at all - from the caps.
"We are taking a preemptive strike to deal with this," Guerin said. "We've had several preliminary discussions. The first thing we want to do is to purchase two more police cars with money taken from the Rainy Day Fund and perhaps another fund. This way we won't have to deal with this issue in the 2012 or 2013 budgets and should have $50,000 more to deal with in those years."
The major objective, says Guerin, is avoid any layoffs.
Another area the council is looking into is health care insurance. Josh Estelle and David Bundy of the Pfenninger Agency appeared at a council meeting recently and offered to help Knightstown find a less costly health care package for its employees. The council voted to make Pfenninger the "agency of record" with respect to health coverage.
The town's current health policy expires Oct. 1. Estelle told the council he could have a new policy drawn up within 30 days.
Then there is the elimination of take-home cars for department heads and police officers, effective Sept. 1.
Police Chief Danny Baker has repeatedly emphasized the importance of this convenience for his officers, including the ability to respond faster to an emergency situation. But the council members generally believe this measure will reduce mileage significantly.
"Some people in town have suggested drawing money from the utility fund or other areas," Guerin said. "But that's not workable because there are an increased number of vacant homes in Knightstown."
Guerin believes the budgetary issues related to tax caps will be long-term.
"It will not go away," he said. "I don't see this situation correcting itself in the near future. If we're not careful we might have to lay off people. That's the one thing we don't want to do."
Other towns
Howard Flanagan, president of Sulphur Springs Town Council, reports that his town's budget is "in pretty good shape" and not affected much by property tax caps.
"We don't have a great deal of expenses other than our streets," Flanagan said. "We are still looking for a single trash hauler to serve the town."
Unlike Knightstown, the police expenditures of Sulphur Springs are considerably lower. Flanagan credits Town Marshal Danny Floyd for finding ways to cut costs.
"Danny works only 20 hours a week, but is good at getting grants for cars and equipment," Flanagan said. "He got a police car at hardly any cost to the town by finding grant money. He's gotten other freebies too."
Spiceland doesn't have a marshal - for now. But the town council discussed it extensively at its July 7 meeting. The cost of appointing someone is among the concerns.
"The property tax caps really haven't affected Spiceland much," Council President Stacey Craft said. "Hiring a town marshal is a concern, but I spoke to (Clerk-Treasurer) Dawn Mogg and she reports the budget is in good shape."
Mt. Summit is trying to get a grant for work on the water lines. That may be difficult, according to Town Council President Betty Gipe.
"'Whe you apply for a grant, you have to have matching funds," Gipe said. "Because to the tax caps, we may have trouble putting up the matching funds. Some of our projects may go by the wayside."
The Middletown Town Council has not yet dealt with the tax caps issue.
"We haven't had a budget workshop yet," council member Lisa Hicks-Smith said this week. "So we really don't know yet how the tax caps might affect it."
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