The county jail needs expanded, roads in the Center Grove area need rebuilt to accommodate interstate traffic and the library district wants to build a new branch.
County officials are trying to come up with the best funding plan to pay for the projects, which cost millions of dollars.
In April, a possible tax increase will be discussed by the Johnson County Council, but until then, the projects aren’t being approved. For example, the Johnson County Public Library needs the county council’s permission to borrow money to pay for a new branch in the New Whiteland area. The council has asked the library officials to wait — for now. The board will revisit the library request in June.
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Johnson County’s jail routinely has more inmates than beds and jail and a $15 million expansion plan has been proposed.
In February, the county council was leaning towards an economic development income tax that would raise local income taxes by 0.25 percent for an open-ended period of time until the jail expansion is paid for. The tax would bring in almost $10.9 million a year, but would not be paid by residents who receive Social Security income. Other residents would see their county income tax go up. For example, a resident who makes $60,000 per year and currently pays $600 in a county income tax would pay $750 a year to fund the jail project.
That plan may no longer be the best option, county council members said this week.
County officials have paused passing funding for those projects while they research a funding source that may be able to build county roads that will have to handle increased traffic after Interstate 69 is built, a jail expansion and a new library in Clark-Pleasant township.
County council members are researching additional tax options that may be able to cover all the county projects. The details of that funding may be outlined in the April meeting, county council member Rob Henderson said.
“We are looking at all options and there is a specific option we are looking at that could cover it all,” he said.
On Monday, the county commissioners did approve hiring RQAW Corp., a Fishers-based architect and engineering firm, to design the jail expansion. For years, the jail has been overcrowded and the state has given the county a mandate to fix the overcrowding. The architectural firm will take about six months to design the jail, Sheriff Duane Burgess said.
At the same time, officials are studying what needs to be done to roads in the Center Grove area to accommodate traffic once Interstate 69 is built along State Road 37.
Three interchanges will open at County Road 144, near Bargersville, Smith Valley Road and County Line Road. While the state is building the interstate, the county has to improve local roads.
Separately, the Johnson County Public Library board has a multi-year plan that includes building an $8.8 million new library branch to serve Clark-Pleasant families.
The county council voted to delay a decision until June on allowing the Johnson County Public Library to borrow money for the new library branch.
More than 40 people crowded into the county council meeting in support of the new library branch. The branch would replace the current library on Tracy Road. Multiple people at the meeting spoke in support of the new branch, citing the value of libraries to the community and that residents in Clark and Pleasant townships have outgrown the branch, with some programs filling up quickly and space in the library being crowded at other times.
County council members voted unanimously to delay a vote on borrowing money until June, although multiple council members voiced their support for the project.
“The county has some major major issues it will have to deal with, contend with here in the the next few years and we have to figure a way to pay for a majority of those improvements,” county council member Josh McCarty, said.
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What: Johnson County Council meeting
When: 6 p.m. April 8, courthouse annex, 86 W. Court St., Franklin.
The county council hopes to detail a funding option that may pay for multiple projects in the county.
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