At the June 18 Fishers Town Council meeting, the councilors approved a resolution that increases a tax rate called the “Cumulative Capital Development.”
Tax payers will pay an extra three cents on the already established rate, which is made possible by Indiana state law. Instead of paying two cents for every $100 of property value, the tax payer will ante up five cents.
“It’s a small incremental increase, not a significant one,” Town Manager Scott Fadness said in an interview last week.
The rate increase provides for an extra $1.3 million in tax revenue for the town, according to a council action form.
Fadness said the town anticipates setting aside approximately $1 million per year for resurfacing roads and $300,000 to “finish our path network here in Fishers.”
“If we didn’t stay proactive on the maintenance of our roads, they [residents]would – maybe not this year, maybe not next year but three or four years from now – they’d start to notice the deferred maintenance that should be getting done.”
Funding for local roads and streets has not been able to keep up with the capacity demand in Fishers.
“The last few years we’ve really been behind on replacing and resurfacing roads,” Fadness said. “We have the ability to have growth pay for growth through impact fees.”
This is the first time the rate was reestablished. It is also the first instance in which the rate was dedicated directly to road and path upkeep. In the past, the fund paid for a variety of capital improvements, such as building the new amphitheatre and the playground at Brooks School Park.