A proposed tax increase to fund public safety got a key green light Wednesday night.
Bloomington City Council members unanimously supported a 0.25 percent local option income tax increase dedicated to public safety.
The nine-member city council holds 59 of the 100 votes on the county income tax council, which includes fiscal bodies throughout Monroe County, and thus has majority power to approve the proposed tax increase.
The Ellettsville Town Council already had passed an ordinance supporting the proposal, casting its five votes on the income tax council in the plan’s favor and kickstarting the full approval process.
Monroe County Council members elected to postpone a vote on the plan until later this month.
Assuming the approval process is completed, starting next year the income tax increase will generate an estimated $6.9 million, 30 percent of which would come off the top to fund operations at the dispatch center, which handles 911 calls for public safety agencies across Monroe County.
Bloomington Police Chief Mike Diekhoff said that’s a much-needed revenue stream.
“Dispatch has operated on razor-thin margins for many years,” Diekhoff told the council.
Monroe County Commissioner Iris Kiesling said the county has been looking for this kind of opportunity for years.
“We looked high and low to find a vehicle through which we could fund this,” she said.