Porter County Government - Municipal Unit Strategic Taskforce Committee - October 19th, 2026

The Porter County Municipal Unit Strategic Taskforce Committee met on October 19, 2026, to develop recommendations for changes to the county’s local income tax structure. The discussion focused on distributing revenue among municipalities and other units, addressing property-tax-credit losses, and whether school funding should be included. The committee favored removing schools from the current proposed scenario while asking legislators to consider a school-specific rate in future legislation. Members also supported recommending a 0.20% fire/EMS category be broadened to include police funding, with the distribution method and local allocation to be further addressed. The scenario discussed included a 0.38% municipal-services rate and a 0.14% county-services rate; the taskforce emphasized that these were recommendations for legislators, not adopted tax rates. Members also proposed keeping a resulting rate stable unless the county later decides to increase it.

The committee voted to advance the recommendation scenario for a draft report. Affirmative votes were recorded for the Porter County representative and representatives of Beverly Shores, Couts, Ogden Dunes, Portage, Porter, and Valparaiso; the Burns Harbor vote is unclear in the transcript, one member left early, and a representative of Pines was absent. Members were to review the draft and submit comments, with the final report to be sent to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance by November 2. No procurement activity, contract awards, or purchasing decisions were identified.