Geneva approves pair of taxes

GENEVA — Geneva Town Council on Tuesday approved two local option income taxes (LOIT).
The first LOIT is supposed to provide property tax relief to individuals while also bringing the number of properties that meet the tax cap down to benefit the municipality.
Because the town will collect fewer dollars in property taxes, implementing an income tax will generate new money to make up for the loss.
“For the municipal governments what happens is the municipal governments will be getting less property tax revenue to be used toward their budgets, but the LOIT, the income tax, is to try to replace that,” said town attorney Dave Baumgartner. “So towns should get more of their budgets actually funded.”
The Adams County Income Tax Council — which is made up of votes from representatives of each municipality and the county — already has enough votes to approve the income tax, he noted, but Geneva Town Council still needed to record its votes.
The second LOIT aims to provide funds to help pay the cost of building a new Adams County Jail.
It’s also a 0.25-percent tax and will be paid by Adams County residents who also work there.
A portion of the tax collected — for Geneva that’s estimated at $52,500 — will be available for each municipality to spend on public safety.
“It’s new money that will come to the town,” Baumgartner said. “Again, the county’s already voted, it’s going to happen, but we have to register our vote.”
Councilman Doug Milligan asked how much of the tax would go to Adams County for the jail. About $1.7 million will go to Adams County, Baumgartner said, according to estimates from the county’s financial adviser.
As he will no longer be clerk-treasurer when Geneva begins seeing the extra funds, clerk-treasurer Bill Warren advised council members they should have a plan for how they’ll choose to spend them.
“You’ll see an increase in budget, you’ll see three or four people who will tell you where you ought to spend that money,” he said. “You’ve got some period of time to think about it.”
The tax will be implemented indefinitely, Baumgartner said, so the town should see income from it each year.
Members Dick Clutter, Jim Timmons and Milligan voted unanimously to approve both taxes.
In other business Tuesday, Geneva Town Council:
•Approved an amendment to its water easement that runs across the field from Old Hickory Lane to the wastewater treatment plant. That land belongs to Limberlost Conservation.
Wording needed to be changed to meet government requirements.
Baumgartner said the new language states what the council can and can’t do with the easement and it will repair any damages.
•Learned Nancy Graber is leaving the South Adams Senior Center. Approved allowing Pam Krause to represent Geneva on the the center’s board.