By Emma Rausch
emma@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH,IN The Cumulative Capital Development Fund (CCD) rate will remain at its current rate after the Wabash County Council took no action to raise it on Monday night, July 25.
The CCD rate will remain at $.0164 per $100 of assessed tax valuation.
The tax would have been levied on all taxable real and personal property within the taxing district, according to a legal notice posted by the Wabash County Auditor’s Office last week.
Last week, the legal notice stated that the tax would not exceed $2 per $100 of assessed tax valuation, but it was incorrect, according to Mike Ridenour, council chairman.
The advertisement should have stated that it would not exceed $.02 per $100 of assessed tax valuation, he explained.
“When we have to advertise rates, we have to advertise at a maximum and, when we vote on something, we can’t go over what we advertised … and in fact, it’s several 1,000 percent more than it should have been,” Ridenour said. “I apologize for the stress of any one on that (matter) and I can imagine it probably would raise some eyebrows, but that’s something that would never even be considered.”
The legal notice also stated that the Council would be hosting a public hearing on the “re-establishment” of the fund by means of implementing a resolution.
However, that wording is “misleading,” according to Steve Downs, county attorney.
“The resolution is a little misleading because it’s not like you’re re-establishing a tax and you’re not,” Downs told the Council. “That’s required language by the statute. So you’re not creating a new tax. You’re re-establishing a rate, fixing the specific rate of the CCD.”
The fund was originally established by and adopted by the County Commissioners in 2002, and was initially set at $.0167, according to Ridenour, reading notes provided by Downs.