State to advance $620 million to Indiana Counties

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Governor Mitch Daniels said last week the state will advance $620 million of 2008 homestead credits to Indiana counties, in most cases months ahead of schedule.

“In years past, a bankrupt Indiana state government withheld money from schools and localities, in effect borrowing from them against their will,” said Daniels. “Today’s action to advance funds is the exact opposite, a prepayment in order to get cash where it’s needed and protect localities from having to borrow money.”

The governor decided to take this action, in part, because of added burdens on local governments because of severe storms that have affected many Indiana counties this year.

The $620 million is not an additional payment, but an advance of what counties would normally receive two weeks after they have billed property owners. So far, only six Indiana counties (Adams, Madison, Owen, Porter, Tipton and Vanderburgh) have sent spring bills. Of the six, only Vanderburgh has received its share of the $620 million, which is about $19 million.

Daniels said the state is able to make the prepayments because it will end Fiscal Year 2008 with sufficient reserves. The funds will be sent to counties within the next two weeks.

The amounts each county will receive in less than two weeks can be found at this link: http://www.in.gov/gov/files/620M_homestead_credits_by_county.xls

Audio from the news conference is available at: http://www.in.gov/gov/3761.htm

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