A Message to Our Community about Property Tax Legislation
- Treva Hodges
- Mar 7
- 3 min read
Many of us have heard Governor Braun commit to lowering property tax bills for Hoosiers throughout the state. I commend our Governor for this goal.
Unfortunately, Senate Bill 1 fails to deliver relief and instead, imposes damaging restrictions on municipal funding that ignores economic realities we face as a growing community.
Every year I work with department directors and our Clerk Treasurer to create a balanced, fair budget that accounts for our community needs. I present this budget to the City Council and to our community early in the process so that everyone has time to review it before adoption. Every month we publish all of our expenses on our website as a part of my commitment to radical transparency. I believe that the best people to make decisions about our city are our people.
SB1 threatens to remove our local control of our own budget.
As it's written today, SB1 would force us to operate in 2026 with the same revenue we receive in 2025, preventing us from adding newly constructed homes, apartments, and businesses to our property tax revenue. Imagine a reality in which we grow and grow, but receive no extra money to build our infrastructure, hire more police officers, or maintain our city services. That's the world that SB1 creates.
We need property tax reform that actually works...for all of us. Under the current bill, Charlestown homeowners see no real relief. In fact, only landlords and businesses are receiving the majority of the savings. Charlestown homeowners, especially our senior citizens, veterans, disabled residents, and our first-time homeowners deserve to see real relief.
The most frustrating part of SB1 is that it's based on a lie. State leaders have misled everyone by claiming that our property tax bills increased because of wasteful local spending. This is not true. Charlestown's budget saw only modest increases that helped us provide equipment for our police officers, hire and retain the best officers to patrol our streets, improve our parks, offer additional programming, repair our stormwater infrastructure, and maintain our facilities and roads. Our tax rate is actually lower in 2025 than it was in 2019!
The truth is that our bills went up because our properties were assessed at higher values. Property assessment occurs at the County level and is not a function of city government. SB1 fails to solve this problem. It does nothing to curb out-of-control assessments or to create a fair and equitable assessment process. The limits placed on us by the bill are arbitrary and ineffective. It's all for show - a bit of razzle-dazzle to make you think you've gotten relief when your bill will prove otherwise.
I've written a memo as a guest column in our local newspaper and you can read more details about the impact of SB1 here: Memo for Charlestown regarding SB1
SB1 is made even worse if we factor in the impact it has when combined with the financial hit we will take if the Jeffersonville/Utica Fire District fire territory passes. Together these two actions will cost the City of Charlestown a staggering $1.2 million!
Please contact our leaders at the state and let them know we want to be in control of our own local decisions, that we want real property tax relief that addresses assessment problems, that we want them to listen to our needs, not just assume their one-size-fits-all plan is right for us. Use the links below:
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