LEGISLATIVE SERVICES AGENCY
OFFICE OF FISCAL AND MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
200 W. Washington St., Suite 301
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 233-0696
iga.in.gov
FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
LS 6480 NOTE PREPARED: Dec 17, 2023
BILL NUMBER: HB 1148 BILL AMENDED:
SUBJECT: Local Government Finance and Administration.
FIRST AUTHOR: Rep. Cherry BILL STATUS: As Introduced
FIRST SPONSOR:
FUNDS AFFECTED:XGENERAL IMPACT: State & Local
DEDICATED
FEDERAL
Summary of Legislation: Disabled Veteran’s Deduction: This bill provides that at a county auditor's
discretion, the county auditor may choose not to require the inspection of certain items otherwise required
to claim a disabled veteran's property tax deduction if the following criteria have been satisfied with regard
to an individual seeking to claim the deduction: (1) The county auditor has inspected the individual's items
in a previous year and approved the deduction for that year. (2) There has been no change to the individual's
property or the individual's qualifying status since the last year that the county auditor approved the
deduction. (3) The individual has signed a sworn statement, as prescribed by the Indiana Department of
Veterans' Affairs, subject to the penalty of perjury, affirming that the requirement that there has been no
change to the individual's property or the individual's qualifying status since the last year that the county
auditor approved the deduction. (4) The county auditor has not disapproved the individual's claim for the
deduction in a year since the county auditor most recently approved the deduction.
Additional Appropriations: This bill requires the proper officers of a political subdivision that desire to
appropriate more money for a particular year than the amount prescribed in the budget for that year as finally
determined to hold a public hearing after submitting the following information regarding the proposed
additional appropriation to the Department of Local Government Finance's (DLGF) computer gateway
(Gateway): (1) The amount of the additional appropriation. (2) The name of the affected fund. (3) The name
and account number of the affected account. (4) The date, time, and place at which the political subdivision
will hold a public hearing on the proposed additional appropriation. It also requires the proper officers of a
political subdivision to submit the required information, in a manner prescribed by the DLGF, to the gateway
at least 14 days prior to the public hearing. The bill requires the DLGF to make the information submitted
by the political subdivision available to taxpayers through the gateway at least 10 days prior to the public
hearing. It also provides that if the date, time, or place of the public hearing changes following the original
HB 1148 1 submission of the information to the Gateway, the political subdivision shall submit the updated information
to the gateway as soon as possible.
County Auditor Stipend: This bill provides that a county fiscal body may establish a salary schedule that
includes a stipend to be paid to the county auditor for the county auditor's duties when warranted as
determined by the county fiscal body. It provides that the county fiscal body may consider factors such as:
(1) required attendance at additional meetings; (2) meetings held outside of usual work hours; (3) increased
workload volume; or (4) any other relevant factor as determined by the county fiscal body.
Effective Date: July 1, 2024.
Explanation of State Expenditures: Additional Appropriations: This bill requires the proper officers of
a political subdivision that desire to do an additional appropriation to the current year’s certified budget to
upload the additional appropriation information to Gateway at least 14 days prior to the public hearing on
the additional appropriation. The DLGF will, then, make this information available via the public side of
Gateway at least 10 days prior to the public hearing on the additional appropriation. This requirement may
result in an additional expense to the DLGF since they will have to work with the Indiana Business Research
Center (IBRC) to help create an application on the public side of Gateway where the additional appropriation
information can be searched and viewed.
Additional Information: The IBRC is the entity tasked with overseeing the public side of Gateway. The IBRC
works with the applicable state agencies to make the data that the agencies receive from local units of
government available for public consumption. The DLGF currently administers an Additional Appropriations
application on Gateway that local units use to submit certain information pertaining to additional
appropriations; however, this information is not currently available on the public side of Gateway. The
DLGF’s current contract with the IBRC goes from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, and is in the amount
of $88,000.
Explanation of State Revenues:
Explanation of Local Expenditures: Disabled Veteran’s Deduction: This bill’s requirement that - at a
county auditor's discretion - the county auditor may choose not to require the inspection of certain items
otherwise required to claim a disabled veteran's property tax deduction if the certain criteria have been
satisfied with regard to an individual seeking to claim the deduction. This requirement may result in a minor
decrease in the administrative workload for the county auditor’s office, assuming that the auditor decides not
to require inspection of certain documentation for a taxpayer to claim a disabled veteran’s deduction.
Additional Appropriations: Currently, local units are submitting certain information pertaining to additional
appropriation requests to the DLGF via Gateway. This bill would require the local units to submit additional
information pertaining to the date, time, and location of the public hearing on the additional appropriation,
inclusive of any potential changes to the date, time, and location of the public hearing. This requirement may
result in a minor increase in the administrative workload for local units.
County Auditor Stipend: This bill provides that a county fiscal body may establish a salary schedule that
includes a stipend to be paid to the county auditor for the county auditor's duties when warranted as
determined by the county fiscal body. This requirement will result in an additional expense for the county,
assuming that the county fiscal body approves the additional stipend. The actual fiscal impact will vary from
county to county and will be contingent on the actions of the county fiscal body, including the amount of any
HB 1148 2 stipend specified in the salary schedule.
Explanation of Local Revenues:
State Agencies Affected: Department of Local Government Finance.
Local Agencies Affected: County auditors; Civil taxing units and school corporations.
Information Sources: Indiana Gateway for Government Units; State of Indiana Transparency Portal.
Fiscal Analyst: James Johnson, 317-232-9869.
HB 1148 3