FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Long, Bauer add special advisors to bipartisan commission
studying property tax crisis; hearings to begin July 23
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Senate and House leaders today named seven special advisors to a key legislative study group charged with examining the causes of and short- and long-term solutions to Indiana’s property tax crisis.
Senate President Pro Temp David Long (R-Fort Wayne), who chairs the joint Legislative Council, said he worked closely with Indiana House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer (D-South Bend) in selecting the special advisors. Bauer serves as vice chair of the Legislative Council.
Long and Bauer appointed four lawmakers and three citizens with tax expertise as non-voting advisors to the Commission on State Tax and Financing Policy. The panel will conduct the first in a series of public hearings on property taxes at 9 a.m. Monday (July 23) in the auditorium of the Indiana Government Center South, 402 W. Washington St., Indianapolis.
Legislators named as special advisors include:
- Rep. William Crawford (D-Indianapolis), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee;
- Rep. Jeffrey Espich (R-Uniondale), ranking Republican member on the Ways and Means Committee and a former chair of that panel;
- Sen. Lindel Hume (D-Princeton), Senate Democrat Whip and member of the Senate Appropriations Committee; and
- Sen. Robert Meeks (R-LaGrange), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Citizen tax experts selected by Long and Bauer are:
- John Grew of Indianapolis, former fiscal analyst for both Gov. Frank O’Bannon and the Indiana House of Representatives. Grew is now director of financial research and analysis at Indiana University.
- Steven Johnson of Indianapolis, former State Representative and former State Senator. Johnson is president of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute.
- Katrina Hall of Shelbyville, tax and local government specialist with Indiana Farm Bureau, Inc.
“Under the steady guidance of State Sen. Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville), the Commission on State Tax and Financing Policy has been identified as the primary means for legislators to discuss the causes of property tax increases in Indiana, as well as additional short- and long-term solutions beyond the bipartisan reforms enacted by the Legislature in the 2007 session,” Long said.
“All available and affordable proposals should be considered in solving this crisis.” Long said. “Most taxpayers and lawmakers agree that while the causes of this crisis may have been years in the making, the need for solving it is long overdue… and that will surely require bipartisan, widespread cooperation on the state and local levels.”
Bauer added, “With the additional fiscal expertise that Sen. Long and I have chosen to provide the panel, I hope we will explore other proposals that have been advanced to expand on the $550 million in direct tax relief already set to go to Hoosier homeowners in 2007 and 2008.
“At the same time, I would like the commission to use this opportunity to examine some of the root causes that have led to the property tax mess in Indiana, including the impact of trending, the gradual elimination of the state’s inventory tax and a flawed method of assessing property that has drawn criticism from all sectors,” the Speaker added.
The commission is comprised of Republican and Democrat lawmakers from both the Indiana Senate and House of Representatives. It meets when the legislature is not in regular session. In addition to Kenley, voting commission members are State Reps. P. Eric Turner (R-Marion) and Peggy Welch (D-Bloomington) and State Sens. John Broden (D-South Bend) and Brandt Hershman (R-Wheatfield).
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