County council denies tax changes

After months and months of debate and attempting to fix the county financial issues, the county council denied following the advice of the financial consultant they hired. 
Council members gathered during a special meeting on Oct. 21 to decide if they want to move forward with changing the county taxes to bring in additional tax revenue. They were advised to not only cut the department budgets but to also look at changing the taxes. The advice of changing taxes came from not only a financial consultant, Jeff Peters, but also community development commission executive director Nathan Origer.  
The council previously approved, on Sept. 30, to draft an ordinance regarding the tax change that would increase property taxes and eventually reduce income taxes. 
During the Oct. 21 meeting, the council heard from Peters, reminding them of the changes that could be made and how much money might be collected with the changes. 
A motion was made to reduce the income taxes and increase property taxes that would not affect homesteads. The motion was approved by councilmen Ken Boswell and Brian Young. It was opposed by Scott Hinkle, Mike Tiede and Rudy DeSabatine. Sullivan denied the motion.