~by Dr. Larry DeBoer, Purdue University Can it be, is it possible, that 2021 won’t be terrible? The state revenue forecast was released on December 16 to provide a starting point for the Indiana General Assembly to craft a new state budget. Might the coming biennium be OK? It didn’t look OK last June. State …

~by Dr. Larry DeBoer, Purdue University It was the worst of times. It was the even worse worst of times. It was the Great Recession of 2007-2009. It was the COVID Recession of 2020. How do the two recessions compare? The Great Recession began after the economy peaked in December 2007, and then continued for …

Purdue Extension provided a free workshop for local leaders to learn about Indiana’s property tax system and explore trends in local and regional property tax data on Friday, March 13, at the Purdue Extension Lake County Office.  Local government officials, community leaders, and residents from Lake and Porter counties participated in the workshop. Workshop participants …

Lake County Extension collaborated with the Lake County Clerk’s office and the Board of Elections & Registration to present the “Local Government Leadership: Running for Office” workshop on January 7, 2020. 24 community members attended the session, held in the Purdue Extension building.  Participants learned about the election process and the required forms for candidacy …

Confined Feeding Operations (CFOs) offer an efficient system to feed and house animals through specialization, increased facility size and close confinement of animals. There are roughly 19,496 CFOs in the United States. Indiana has close to 2,000 CFOs that are regulated by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) at the state level. Although the …

Local government finance is complex and has become even more so since the implementation of the property tax caps in 2008. In 2016, taxpayers realized savings from the tax caps of over $8 million dollars, but on the other hand, this was money local governments budgeted and levied but ultimately did not receive. 2017 brought …

Journalists, school officials and local government enthusiasts joined Purdue Extension’s Larry DeBoer and Tamara Ogle (@INTaxRockstars) on Twitter May 3 to watch for Indiana school referenda results. Ten school corporations put forth referenda this election, bringing Indiana to a total of 138 school referenda since November 2008. Eight out of the 10 passed Tuesday night. Find out …

Local governments have faced many fiscal challenges in the past several years, from the Great Recession to property tax cap losses, creating a strain on local governments’ budgets in many Indiana counties. The tax caps in particular have created new, complicated relationships within county taxing districts. In 2015, tax cap credits in Indiana amounted to …