July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
AIC backs state-funded welfare system (01/06/06)
Letter to the editor
To the Editor:
House Bill 1001, under consideration by the House Ways and Means Committee, includes measures to reduce property taxes. It also begins the process of having the state pay for welfare. Funding for welfare through county council levied property taxes has created controversy for years. While the state hires and pays welfare employees, as well as selects vendors providing the service, counties are left funding a program for which they have no control.
Under the current law, county councils must levy the tax for the program even though they provide no input on the standards, reimbursement rates or providers participating in the program. A state-funded welfare program would alleviate the burden placed on property owners and would add transparency for taxpayers as county councils would no longer need to raise taxes for a state administered program.
Every county, urban or rural regardless of population, is affected by the cost of the welfare program. It’s an incorrect assumption that it is only an urban county problem. In fact, the methamphetamine crisis facing many rural counties has been connected to increasing welfare costs. It only takes a crisis in a few households to significantly drive up the cost of welfare in a county. As a result, property owners are laden by growing property taxes directly influenced by the increase in costs for counties to fund the state welfare programs.
The Association of Indiana Counties (AIC) supports a state funded welfare program, easing the burden of counties and ultimately property taxpayers. If a change from a county to a state funded welfare program is to be made in order to affect the 2006 tax bill, it must be made early in the 2006 session to prevent a delay in the mailing of spring property tax bills. The state should pay for the welfare program as a means to reduce property taxes and increase transparency in the property tax system.
Sincerely,
David Bottorff,
executive director,
Association of Indiana Counties[[In-content Ad]]
House Bill 1001, under consideration by the House Ways and Means Committee, includes measures to reduce property taxes. It also begins the process of having the state pay for welfare. Funding for welfare through county council levied property taxes has created controversy for years. While the state hires and pays welfare employees, as well as selects vendors providing the service, counties are left funding a program for which they have no control.
Under the current law, county councils must levy the tax for the program even though they provide no input on the standards, reimbursement rates or providers participating in the program. A state-funded welfare program would alleviate the burden placed on property owners and would add transparency for taxpayers as county councils would no longer need to raise taxes for a state administered program.
Every county, urban or rural regardless of population, is affected by the cost of the welfare program. It’s an incorrect assumption that it is only an urban county problem. In fact, the methamphetamine crisis facing many rural counties has been connected to increasing welfare costs. It only takes a crisis in a few households to significantly drive up the cost of welfare in a county. As a result, property owners are laden by growing property taxes directly influenced by the increase in costs for counties to fund the state welfare programs.
The Association of Indiana Counties (AIC) supports a state funded welfare program, easing the burden of counties and ultimately property taxpayers. If a change from a county to a state funded welfare program is to be made in order to affect the 2006 tax bill, it must be made early in the 2006 session to prevent a delay in the mailing of spring property tax bills. The state should pay for the welfare program as a means to reduce property taxes and increase transparency in the property tax system.
Sincerely,
David Bottorff,
executive director,
Association of Indiana Counties[[In-content Ad]]
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