Paige Sansone of Umbaugh & Associates presents advantages of raising the CCDF to Winona Lake’s Town Council.

WINONA LAKE —With several high-dollar projects looming on the horizon such as the construction of a roundabout, the town council of Winona Lake adopted an ordinance designed to increase the town’s revenue by approximately $50,000.

Paige Sansone of Umbaugh & Associates was invited by the council to discuss the town’s Cumulative Capital Development Fund, which she said is not generating as much revenue as it could.

For Winona Lake, the CCDF maximum is five cents for every $100 of net assessed value. Sansone explained that state law provides a way to adjust this tax rate in order to level out the tax levy. She said when a town’s assessed value goes up, the CCDF rate drops. Winona Lake’s current CCDF is .0199, or just shy of two cents. However, Sansone told the board that Winona Lake could raise the rate to the maximum.

“Probably at one time, you were at the maximum statutory rate,” she said. “Periodically, municipalities will look at their cumulative fund, usually every two to three years, and re-establish back up to the maximum because you’re allowed to do that.”

Paige Sansone

While the CCDF currently generates Winona Lake about $31,600 annually, bumping the tax to the maximum of five cents would be a hike to $79,500. This would boost the town’s revenue from this fund by $47,900.

“There are several benefits to a Cumulative Capital Development Fund,” Sansone said. “One is that this fund is a property tax levy that’s outside that maximum that the state allows you to levy. So, by not being at the maximum levy, you’re leaving money on the table, so to speak.”

Sansone told the board that money generated from the CCDF can be used not only for capital projects, but also for operating expenses. “It really is a very valuable fund to have,” she said.

Sansone’s presentation did not go without some push back.

Winona Lake resident Jerry Nelson asked Sansone about her motives in presenting this potential tax-hiking ordinance.

“Are you a resident of this community?” Nelson asked. Sansone answered that she was not. “So, you’re recommending this to the council without having any obligation to pay taxes,” he continued. “As I listen to you talk and I hear you say ‘hey, you can get 50 grand more,’ there’s only one place you’re getting that 50 grand from and it’s from the residents here at Winona Lake that are now going to pay more taxes.”

Nelson said he wanted to know if the hike in revenue was necessary.

“You’re saying ‘you can get it,’ but do you need it?” he said.

Town Coordinator Craig Allebach pointed out that Sansone was presenting at the meeting by invitation from the council.

According to Sansone, the hike in tax rate for the CCDF would equate to about $10 more each year for residents living in a $100,000 home, or an overall rate increase of about 1.6 percent.

The board voted to adopt the ordinance. According to Sansone, the town now has to advertise its notice of adoption and a 30-day remonstrance period will follow. In that time, a collection of 50 taxpayers can protest the ordinance, which would then result in another public hearing.