Allen County Council postpones vote on proposed income tax for new jail

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - A public hearing was held at Citizens Square Wednesday to talk about the different ways the county can pay for the new jail.

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It also provided an opportunity for those against the jail to continue voicing their concerns.

Neighbors from the Sunnymede neighborhood were among those in opposition to the jail.

A big area of concern, of course, being the potential 0.2% income tax increase proposed by Allen County Commissioners to pay for the new jail.

For example, if you make $50,000, that adds up to an additional $100 dollars in taxes.

The county council has to approve that proposal first.

Council President Tom Harris says they will not be voting on that potential increase Thursday morning as previously expected. He says it was taken off the agenda Wednesday afternoon to give councilmembers more time to look at new information.

“I pulled that on the basis that council has been requesting some information,” Harris said. “We’re still working with commissioners to get information, as well as the sheriff, and that information is still coming to us, and we received some of that late today. But, based on receiving that, we need time to digest that, as well hearing tonight’s comments as well from the public hearing.”

As for when that vote will take place, Harris says he’s not sure which meeting it’ll be moved to. He expects the decision to happen very soon.

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