Marion debt at $173 million

The figures are not good for Marion taxpayers; each individual is now responsible for a tax burden of $5,797.70. That ranks third in the state behind Carmel and Evansville for cities with more than 29,000 people, according to the DLGF. Tax payers in Carmel have an individual tax burden of $11,475.99, while in Evansville they have a tax burden of $6,277.41.

Most of Marion's debt is tied into Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, which are designed to spur economic development within the City of Marion. The total TIF debt is about $150 million. According to Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold, those districts are not actually a tax burden on the citizens of Marion because the bonds associated with those districts are paid with incremental property tax funds.

The DLGF disagrees.

"Some of these bonds may have property tax backups, which means the property owners in the district would pick up the tab," said DLGF Commissioner Courtney Schaafsma. "However the City does it, in the end the City would be responsible for anything left over, and if they don't pay it they risk default, which could impact their ability to receive financing from the state later on."

Marion has a much larger portion of TIF debt than other cities that are larger or around the same size. The comparisons are below: 

Marion's actual amount of non-TIF related debt is significant given the current state of property tax caps. Marion's general budget has a debt of about $20 million, according to numbers from the DLGF. Local officials, however, are struggling to come up with ways of increasing revenue.

"Our income is stagnating, property tax revenue isn't going up," said Marion City Councilmember Madonna French. "Obviously something has to be done because we can't keep operating with these types of deficits."

Marion is facing a 10 percent or more loss in property tax levy due to caps instituted by the state, according to the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute.

"It isn't entirely the City's fault that we are in this situation," said Marion City Councilmember Paul Thompson. "The county is putting a burden on us by transferring homes into the city that we have to pay to take care of, the state instituted property tax caps have put quite a damper on our revenue stream, and people are using less gasoline now, so we even lose out on the gas tax revenue."

On top of all that, Marion is dealing with a loss in population, a quarter of its population being below the poverty line and a median income well below the state average. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, Marion's population dropped 1.2 percent from 2010-2013, while the state population rose 1.3 percent. Twenty-six percent of Marion citizens live below the poverty line, compared to the state average of just above 15 percent. Finally, Marion households have a median income of $31,391, while the state average sits at $48,248.

That means that while the city's population is dropping, and the median income remains stagnate, Marion taxpayers are looking at a future of increasing tax obligations.

Thompson says Marion is losing a lot of money from just the way City government is operating.

"We spend a lot of money providing services for businesses or people that don't even pay property taxes to help fund the services," said Thompson. "That has to stop if we are going to see changes in our financial situation." 

All figures are estimates derived from information submitted by Marion to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.