Olive Township residents left confused after seeing spike in airport tax

 

Americans are already feeling the pinch in their wallet.

Due to the historical rise of inflation, people are spending more money on goods and services every day.

So is it fair that residents in St. Joseph County are potentially paying for services in another county?

In a world where taxes are an unavoidable reality, taxpayers demand answers when they skyrocket.

The need for transparency and accountability in how elected representatives handle taxpayers' money cannot be overstated.

St. Joseph County is no exception.

Property tax statements reveal a breakdown of expenses covering county services, libraries and schools.

Those who live in Olive Township were shocked by a significant increase in one category: the airport tax.

Kermit Walsh, a concerned resident from New Carlisle, expressed his astonishment

“I scan down the line, and I saw an item called airport tax, you know, 600 and something dollars. And I really thought, ‘this is something.’ Something's off here,” Walsh said.

The numbers speak for themselves, with an alarming increase of almost 1,700%.

I live in Olive Township myself and opened my property tax statement to see an increase in $774.17 for an airport tax that was only $44 dollars the previous year.

South Bend International Airport has been undergoing a series of expansions and improvements for the past three years.

“This project this year is about $22 million combination of federal grants state and local monies,” said Mike Daigle, CEO of SBN.

According to Daigle, the financial breakdown of the project consists of approximately 90% federal grants, 5% state funding, and 5% local contributions.

Local contributions include funds generated through taxes imposed on airline tickets, which are then allocated to a dedicated trust.

Additionally, the local responsibility also encompasses the airline tax reflected on homeowner property tax statements.

“Our local shares about 1,100,000 is what we have to contribute to make the project go,” Daigle said.

When asked about the significant increase experienced by Olive Township residents, Daigle told me he was not intimately familiar with the specific details.

“I don't know about the increase that the township received, not intimate enough with the knowledge and the details of all of those things,” he said. “We know that, we only get what is allowed for by the statute by law.”

So I met with St. Joseph County commissioner Carl Baxmeyer, who represents Olive Township, to clear up this confusion.

“It sounds trite to say, well, it was just a clerical error, but that's really essentially what it was,” Baxmeyer said. “It caused a lot of confusion. And I had to go back and research why, when it was brought to my attention, not only by you, but by some constituents.”

Baxmeyer tells me that the increase in the airport tax has nothing to do with the airport construction but instead, the fire territory in Hudson Township.

All of Hudson Township sits in La Porte County.

Are taxpayers in St. Joseph County picking up some of the tax burden for La Porte residents?

“Not really, they were already paying for the fire and ambulance service. In New Carlisle, in the surrounding area,” Baxmeyer said. “There's a big increase in La Porte because they're now paying into the fire territory and keeping district fire territory.”

So why not create a line on the property tax for specifically the fire territory tax?

“It's a state prescribed form, and it should have been broken out,” Baxmeyer said. “It wasn't.”

The tax for the fire district was moved to the airport line, which is also considered a special taxing district.

It’s not clear how much money is actually allocated for the fire territory.

“So that was taken out of the township and should have been put, or has been put in a, what they call a special taxing district,” Baxmeyer said. “Right now, on the tax statement, the only one that's there is the airport. So, it got added to the existing airport, special tax, which caused it to look like a huge increase.”

Baxmeyer said the form will be itemized correctly next year, ending the confusion.

“So next year, when they get the statement, there will be airport, it'll go back down to what they've been accustomed to seeing,” he said. “And there'll be a separate line for the fire territory.”

When I explained to Kermit what I learned, it didn’t put him at ease.

“I would feel aggravated that they put it under the title of airport tax. It's misleading,” he said. “You don't really know what it is.”

He's still left questioning his confidence in his local government representatives.

“How can they be transparent to the taxpayers? If they don't know, they're the ones that are supposed to know?”

Olive Township did see taxes increase approximately 25% overall.

If you want to file an appeal, you must submit Form 130 to the assessor's office by June 15th.