TIPTON – Tipton Mayor Don Havens used his State of the City address Tuesday to announce a serious push to begin annexing more property into the city to boost dwindling tax revenue.
Havens said the city needed to generate more revenue to help fund downtown improvement initiatives and other projects that will attract new, younger residents and boost the city’s declining, aging population.
“Many homeowners want to avoid the cost of city taxes, and that’s understandable,” he said. “But they also want full use of city facilities and amenities … and readily available police and fire services without paying their fair share. That’s not nearly as understandable.”
Havens said he plans to hire an annexation consultant and an annexation attorney to begin investigating opportunities to expand the city’s limits and come up with a “thought-out and vetted” plan that could be accepted by the majority of residents.
“I know this issue is contentious, and it may never proceed beyond the development of a play book for expansion and collection of supporting fees,” he said.
At the very least, Havens said, he wanted to come up with a solid annexation blueprint that could be acted on by future administrations.
Although annexing new land into the city would help boost revenue, he said, the real growth of the city will come from the jobs and income created by the new Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Tipton Transmission Plant, which opened in 2013.
Fiat Chrysler has invested $162 million into the plant, which was formerly a vacant factory, and created more than 800 jobs at a location less than five miles from downtown Tipton.
“Ultimately, the growth we see in this community 10 years from now will largely be because of Fiat Chrysler,” Havens said. “We’re proud to have them out there.”
He said the new plant located at the corner of U.S. 31 and Indiana 28 has the potential to be an economic boon for the city, but new development springing up at the intersection in response to the facility could eventually create a problem: Keeping people from driving into Tipton.
Havens said the city plans to work closely with the Tipton Economic Development organization and county commissioners to ensure the intersection benefits the city and doesn’t deter traffic or potential visitors from coming.
“Unless we work hard to balance between city growth and interchange growth, it could be difficult for the city,” he said.
Havens said he will also continue to push for quality-of-life improvements, including a program to spruce up downtown building facades and increasing the number of trails and recreation opportunities for residents.
Tipton City Council members will also soon consider offering tax abatements on new single-family units to attract builders to construct new housing on the city’s roughly 70 open lots, he said.
In the end, Havens said, the real aim during his tenure as mayor is to move the city forward with innovative ideas that will help the city grow.
“For those of you who like the status quo, I have sad news,” he said. “We literally can’t afford to maintain the status quo. Growth is the only thing that is affordable … If we’re standing still and ignoring the world as it moves around it, we’ll have a very difficult situation on our hands.”