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Kosciusko County currently only has two tax abatements out.
After over a year of study, the County Council Thursday night approved a resolution adopting policy and procedures for property tax abatements.
Council Vice President Kathy Groninger, who sat on the committee with Council members DeLynn Geiger and Rachael Rhoades, with the support of county attorney Ed Ormsby, said, “We’ve just been working pretty hard this year trying to revamp this whole system because we had a policy in the past that was pretty vague. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t a super great tool for us to use and for our economic development partners to be able to use.”
To develop the new system, she said they reached out to neighboring counties and got all of their economic documents, as well as from counties of similar size to Kosciusko. Those were reviewed and the committee picked out the best things that made the most sense for Kosciusko.
“This is a tool. We’re not approving any abatement for any specific business or entity. It’s just a tool to be used by our economic development partners, which is mostly KEDCO (Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation) and our auditor’s office,” Groninger said. “Also, I just want to let people know that a tax abatement does not diminish the taxing district’s existing tax revenue. They’re only realized on the net increase in AV (assessed valuation) that results from the taxpayer’s capital investment.”
She pointed out that Indiana does allow abatements for up to 10 years and gives the council the flexibility to make its own policy concerning that.
“If the council deems a project to be transformative to our community, we’ve added a multiplier to our schedule that we can decide to give, which would increase the abatement available to that business,” Groninger said.
All abatements need to be approved by the council. The process first goes through a committee, which will make a recommendation to the council.
KEDCO and the auditor’s office will help administer the program and help the applicants with paperwork.
Rhoades said it’s a really nice vetting process for people who are interested, and it helps KEDCO help potential applicants.
Before this, Councilwoman Kimberly Cates stated, “We didn’t really have a guideline. ... It was very general and in prior years, the process was, ‘whoever wants to come, just come.’ It was kind of willy nilly and so this is a little bit more streamlined and it actually helps the applicant go through a process and know what forms they need to provide for us.”
The council unanimously approved the resolution.
At the end of Thursday’s meeting, County Auditor Alyssa Schmucker told the council the county received the 1782 Notice from the state for the 2026 budget and is due back by Dec. 19 with any changes from the county.
“We have done the initial review of that. Our advertised levy for the budget was $22,800,000, which was going to give us a tax rate of $0.2694. We ended at $18,822,385 with a rate of $0.1925. So we told you during budget meetings when we were talking about the rates that we would report back to you as soon as we got those adjusted, so that’s where we’re at right now. ... We’ll share it with everybody and make sure we’re all in agreement before we send it back to the Department of Local Government Finance for their final adjustments of our rate,” Schmucker explained.
Earlier in the meeting, Kosciusko County Highway Department (KCHD) Superintendent Steve Moriarty said for the Community Crossings Matching Grant from the state for the last six to seven years, the KCHD got it every year. This year, they did not.
“This is kind of something that I was expecting, to be very honest with you,” he said. “With the funds being cut back to $100 million compared to $250 million, the request was over $261 million throughout the state of Indiana. And when that number comes in, 50% of it goes to the bigger counties and bigger towns, which we’re a part of. So, basically, our shot was cut in about two-thirds, and we did not receive it this year.”
He said they have a “plan of action” to carry on with the plan that they have for those roads anyways, but he wanted to let the council know.
After the meeting, Moriarty said he applied for those Community Crossings funds to help with projects totaling over $2.1 million.
“It was for Packerton Road, from 800 South north to the bridge south of Packerton, which is Julia (Street), I believe. And then I put in for the rest of Armstrong Road from Oswego to Old 15,” he said.
In other business, the council approved:
• A resolution for Kosciusko County Sheriff Jim Smith’s 2026 contract at $126,614, up from $124,131 in 2025. The contract is basically the same for 2026 as 2025, except for the amount, according to Council President Tony Ciriello. The resolution also must be approved by the county commissioners.
• An appropriation adjustment for $18,075 in the Sheriff’s Office insurance vehicle replacement fund in county general, as requested by matron Michelle Hyden. The funds from the insurance company will go toward a replacement vehicle from when a 2021 Ford Explorer was wrecked.
• A $20,000 transfer from calcium/salt/weed spray to garage supplies for the KCHD to cover the remaining part of the year for “parts and such” out of the shop to repair trucks, as requested by Moriarty.
• An appropriation adjustment request of $3,583.63, an insurance reimbursement for unit 73, one of the KCHD’s John Deere tractors, that had been hit this summer, as requested by Moriarty.
• A transfer of $103,902 for the county commissioners, from Social Security/Medicare to Group Health Insurance, as requested by County Administrator Marsha McSherry. She said the transfer was to cover a shortfall in insurance premiums.
• A transfer of $5,000 for the commissioners from public legal notices to government insurance deductible claim, as requested by McSherry. “This is for litigations through our liability insurance,” she stated.
• An additional appropriation of $26,000 for the Kosciusko County Public Defender’s Office, as requested by Chief Public Defender Jack Birch, who was not present at Thursday’s meeting. Schmucker said the additional appropriation was to cover the health insurance benefits in the part-time public defender contracts.
• An additional appropriation of $5,200 for postage for the county clerk’s office, as requested by County Clerk Melissa Boggs.
She said, “Our postage increased multiple times since our budget was (approved) for 2025. We’ve had an increase in mailings for jury notices and state-mandated notices for like voter registration stuff.”
• For Superior Court I Judge Karin McGrath to apply for a fiscal year 2027 Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative grant of $65,000. She said it’ll be the ninth year for the advance grant that doesn’t require matching funds.
“This is the only programming that we have for our juveniles that keeps them out of the justice system,” McGrath said.
• 2026 board appointments, including Dan Wood, Alcohol Tobacco Commission; Jon Garber and Ernie Wiggins, Airport Committee; Mike Loher and Chris Polk, Kosciusko County Convention and Recreation Visitors Commission; Troy Turley and Rob Bishop, Parks and Recreation; Brock Ostrom, Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals; and Jan Orban and Kevin Stone, Kosciusko County Redevelopment Commission.
• The annual year-end transfers resolution, as presented by Schmucker, so the auditor is authorized to make any transfers necessary to make sure that any county accounts are in the black at the end of the year.
