MUST committee meets for first work session

The newly formed Municipal Unit Strategic Taskforce (MUST) committee met in their first session, a work session, at the Pulaski County Courthouse on Sept. 22. These meetings are open to the public. The MUST committee is comprised of Joelyn Flotow, Francesville Town Clerk-Treasurer; Linda McCune, Monterey Town Clerk-Treasurer; Kendra Craft, Winamac Town Clerk-Treasurer; Stacy Conley, Medaryville Town Clerk-Treasurer; and Sheila Hazemi, Pulaski County Council President. Paige Sansone and Scott Finley of Baker Tilly were both present to help lead the meeting. Sansone advised that all on the committee are encouraged to attend the meetings, but if some reason the cannot, they can send a designee in their place. However, if there is going to be a vote, only official members can vote. The goal of the taskforce committee is to develop a thoughtful, data-informed recommendation for Pulaski County’s future LIT structure that considers the needs of participating units and long-term countywide sustainability. To do this, they will build a common fact base (understanding current revenues, services, dependencies and the new LIT framework); evaluating impacts to each unit, services and taxpayers; work toward a durable solution (exploring trade offs and identify an approach participating units can support); and producing a written report for submission to the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF). A successful MUST committee process should result in a recommendation that is data informed, service aware, countywide, sustainable and supportable.