Howard County Council approves 2024 budget, income tax increase

Oct. 15—Howard County public safety employees will receive a raise, and county residents will pay a little more in income tax next year.

The Howard County Council on Thursday unanimously approved the county's 2024 budget and an income tax increase of 0.2%. For a person making $50,000, the increase means paying around $100 more a year.

The county's 2024 budget totals a little over $63 million. Its general fund, the largest fund in the budget and where most employee salaries are paid from, totals $25.5 million.

Next year's budget includes an across-the-board 5% pay raise for every county employee except those with state mandated salaries for and a 10% raise for Howard County Sheriff's Office employees.

This year's budget talks were dominated by wages, with many department heads, including the Highway Department, IT department, Sheriff's Office and more requesting salary increases to better retain and attract employees.

A countywide satisfaction survey completed earlier this year found that the vast majority of employees believe their salary is not competitive with similar positions elsewhere, though just 162 of the county's approximately 500 full-time and part-time employees responded to the survey.

Thursday's passage of the budget means the county has given its employees an across-the-board pay raise of at least 5% for the last three years. A county employee with the sheriff's office has received a 20% raise over the same period.

In addition to pay raises, the 2024 budget makes Alan Wilson, county attorney, a full-time employee with an annual salary of $140,000 and provides him a full-time administrative assistant with an annual salary of $38,000.

Wilson handles the attorney work for not only the County Council but also the Howard County Commissioners, Board of Zoning Appeals, Plan Commission and Drainage Board. In 2022, he made $77,268, while also operating a private practice. Wilson told the Tribune on Thursday he would continue his private practice while also working full-time for the county.

INCOME TAX INCREASE

The county's income tax rate will increase to 1.95% starting next year.

Faced with growing costs associated with the Howard County Jail and a need to sustainably run the jail while maintaining a healthy general fund, the County Council decided to raise the county's income by 0.2%.

The increase is estimated to raise an additional $4 million annually, which will be used exclusively for salary and operating expenses at the Howard County Jail.

In recent years, the Howard County Jail's costs have exceeded tax revenues used to pay for jail operations. That has forced the County Council to either find expenses to cut or to transfer jail expenses to the General Fund or other funds, straining the county's largest fund and its cash balance.

Typically, if a county wants to increase its local income tax, such an act would have to be approved by what is called the Local Income Tax Council. The Local Income Tax Council membership consists of the fiscal body of the county and each municipality within the county, with votes being determined based on population.

Since the city of Kokomo has more than 70% of the total county population, it essentially has monopoly control over local income tax issues. But the Indiana General Assembly recently passed legislation allowing county councils to, on their own, increase the local income tax by no more than 0.2% to help with jail expenses since it is the government body responsible for managing the county's jail.

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.