Questions remain about budget, future tax rates in Sheridan reorganization effort

By Christine Altman & Mark Heirbrandt
Hamilton County Commissioners

Altman

Heirbrandt

As the proposed reorganization between Sheridan and Adams Township has developed over the past several months, we have continued to ask questions and provide information to local leaders and our constituents.

Most recently, when Sheridan and Adams Township published their budget notices, we raised questions about the need to include a combined budget or tax levy impact for a reorganized Sheridan, which are required by state law.

They subsequently corrected those mistakes, and a new budget has been published.

However, the now-corrected budget still does not address questions concerning the adequacy of the budget and impact on future tax rates.

As we have stated before, it appears that the budgets do not provide sufficient funding for critical public safety and infrastructure services that are currently provided to unincorporated Adams Township by the county. We have based this on the county’s costs to patrol the 100 miles of roads within the area, as well as the costs to maintain and improve these roads, repair and replace small bridges and culverts, conduct snow removal operations, fund capital projects, undertake water conservation efforts and more.

Because these services appear to be underfunded, if reorganization is approved, area residents would likely either pay higher taxes than advertised or see a reduction in the scope or quality of services provided, especially for roads. The county would, however, consider an interlocal agreement to provide road maintenance if the county could maintain the roads to our standards and if the reorganized town would cover all expenses.

The state Department of Local Government Finance also reported that costs not fully accounted for in the budgets could affect taxes and other services.

We have shared this information publicly, most recently at a meeting last month in Sheridan, and directly with the local leaders of Sheridan and Adams Township multiple times. Minutes from the September meeting, fact sheets and presentation materials have all been published on our website at this link.

Ultimately, we want to ensure that the taxpayers in unincorporated Adams Township understand the impact of the reorganization plan and that they may ultimately pay the higher tax rate that current town residents pay. The reorganization plan states “all residents would also be responsible for the tax rate associated with the town district.” Even if that is not what is intended, the reorganization plan allows the future town council to convert or reclassify unincorporated Adams Township into the town tax district without the obligation to provide services or other protections from annexation.

Importantly, residents within those areas may not have the ability to remonstrate against future reclassification other than to ask town councilors to vote against it. While reclassifying unincorporated Adams Township property into the town tax district will allow a reorganized Sheridan to raise the additional revenue to fund services that are underfunded in their proposed budget, it will also mean higher taxes for those property owners.

As your county commissioners, we will continue to ask questions, answer your questions and provide any information we can about the proposed reorganization and how it may impact you.

Christine Altman serves as the County Commissioner for District 1 and Mark Heirbrandt serves as the County Commissioner for District 3.