Monroe County will pause consideration of new county jobs, reclassifications and description changes that increase county costs. The County Council made the move Tuesday to “mitigate the need for more aggressive budgetary measures” amid uncertainty with state and federal legislation.
“This is a decision that we don’t make lightly, but it’s a decision that we feel like we must make,” Council President Pro Tempore Peter Iversen said at the meeting.
This comes in response to the council’s continued concerns about state and federal developments, particularly Indiana Senate Bill 1. According to the most recent fiscal analysis, the property tax relief bill would eliminate over $7.6 million in tax revenue from Monroe County in the first year. The bill freezes the maximum levy growth quotient — the limit that the county can increase its property taxes year to year — in 2026 and caps it the next two years.
That’s less of a loss in revenue than in the bill’s first draft, but the House can still amend it, and Gov. Mike Braun threatened to veto the current version.
“The bill itself, as we’ve talked about in this chamber, will have measurable negative consequences on public safety, road quality, schools, libraries and will erode the quality of life for Hoosiers,” Iversen said at the meeting.
The pause deals with the county’s Personnel Administration Committee. The PAC hears requests from county departments to pay higher wages than those on the government salary grid, Iversen told the Indiana Daily Student. He’s the president of PAC, and Councilors Liz Feitl and Kate Wiltz are members. It also hears requests for job description updates and maintains its job classification system with consulting firm Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele and Associates.
After nods from PAC, these items go to the County Council. Iversen said there are usually two to five agenda items from PAC at a typical council meeting.
Under the resolution, which automatically expires at the end of the year, the PAC won’t meet to consider requests that could increase costs for the county. At the meeting Tuesday, the council added an amendment stipulating the committee can still meet to discuss procedures and items without a fiscal impact.
Marty Hawk, the council’s lone Republican, said it’s important to let department leaders know the council’s approach.
“If our plan right now is to just tread water and get to the other side of this uncertainty, then I think everything we can do that would help the departments, helps us,” Hawk said at the meeting.
The council approved a resolution at its last meeting Feb. 25 opposing SB 1.
What was not a factor in the pause, Iversen said, was a clerical error that cost the county $3.8 million in tax revenue this year. He said that was an “internal control issue” and the effects of SB 1, coupled with economic uncertainty nationwide, would have a much larger effect than the mistake.
Council President Jennifer Crossley said at the Feb. 25 meeting Auditor Brianne Gregory assured her steps have been implemented to prevent the error from happening again.
The council also indefinitely tabled a vote Tuesday to increase each Monroe County Sheriff’s Office merit deputy’s hourly rate by $4.52. That’s an annual salary increase of around $9,400 per deputy. The decision to postpone the pay increase was recommended by a financial consultant at the council’s Long-term Finance Committee meeting Feb. 21. Iversen said the tabling was related to the “economic headwinds” that led them to pause the PAC requests with fiscal effects.
Council President Jennifer Crossley said at the meeting she looks forward to working with the sheriff’s office and its collective bargaining unit in the future.
Sheriff Ruben Marté and Chief Deputy Phil Parker were present at the start of the meeting but left shortly after that item was tabled.
