On a rainy Tuesday with little fanfare, Carroll County Council members adopted a total of .3 percent income tax to replace lost property tax revenue for the county general fund. Characteristic of months of discussion which led to the passing of two ordinances, one for each option chosen for adoption, only the vote for one was unanimous.

James Higgins of London Witte Group, hired to advise council members about the effects of the three options available to them for enactment, provided one last overview of each of the options and the ramifications of the local option income tax (LOIT) before the vote.

A unanimous vote to adopt .10 percent for Option A was reached. The local plan developed by the council included Option A be used to guarantee county employee raises and health benefits in the future.

The state required doubling the taxation for the first year of enactment, making the income tax .20 percent until Sept. 30, 2009.

The additional tax income is to be held in a stabilization fund in the event the .10 percent income does not meet expectations at any time. It would then be used to supplement the income amount. The .10 percent income tax can never be reduced but may be increased in the future.

Option B, a .20 percent income tax, was adopted in a five-to-one vote. Option B was designed to be property tax relief to counteract the state imposed circuit breaker, which capped property tax revenue for counties.

Council member Ron Slavens voted against the tax. In a followup interview he said there was no guarantee from the state property owners would pay less tax.

"The state has promised relief for years," he said. "It has not happened for some of us."

"I am waiting for permanent and actual property tax relief for people before putting another tax on them. This is a replacement tax, so there should be actual savings realized before adding another tax."

No action was taken on Option C, which would generate new tax money for public safety funding.

Higgins remarked Carroll County "looked at LOIT differently than any other county" in the state. He said other counties adopted the tax to produce additional revenue rather than the more conservative approach of "preserving what they have."

Council member Ann Brown said the council followed the recommendation of Larry DeBoer, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, who provided workshops and resource information throughout 2008 about LOIT.

"It was prudent that we took the time needed to educate ourselves before adopting the local option income tax," council president Nancy Cripe said after the meeting. "I am glad we were able to reach a decision that we all felt comfortable with. We don't always all agree, but we are all working for the betterment of Carroll County."

The next meeting will be Dec. 22 at 8:30 a.m. The proposed county personnel manual will be discussed with the adoption as the goal.