By Nick Poust
The Zionsville Town Council is weighing options to help increase revenue for the town’s fire and police departments, and among them is the pay in lieu of taxes (PILOT) program. During a special meeting Sept. 13 to discuss the 2017 budget, Deputy Mayor Ed Mitro said PILOT is a potential solution that has worked elsewhere.
“It is a user fee for certain large not-for-profits, a not-for-profit retirement center or some large not-for-profit, where they don’t pay taxes but they utilize police and fire services,” Mitro said. “Many communities have enacted this user-fee to help offset the cost of fire runs and police runs to that particular facility.”
The payment wouldn’t be mandated. Rather, it would be a suggested payment for not-for-profit that want to lease buildings in town.
“What would probably happen is if a facility was coming into town that required either zoning approval or development plan approval, that could be something that could be discussed with that facility at the time of that approval,” Mitro said. “We don’t have anything that mandates it, but certainly we could work with that specific facility to see if they would be willing to do that. That’s where the suggestion part would come in.”
According to the U.S. Department of Interior’s website, 1,900 local governments throughout the United States have adopted the PILOT program, with payments totaling $451.6 million. Thirty-seven Indiana counties have combined to receive $579,706 reported during the 2016 fiscal year, the 12th-lowest dollar amount in the U.S.
In addition to financially benefiting the police and fire departments, PILOT payments have historically helped governments with “construction of public schools and roads, and search-and-rescue operations,” according to the DOI’s website.
“It will not solve the issue, but it’s one tool that we might investigate,” Mitro said.
