According to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Allen County has delayed a decision on whether to pay its $7.5 million debt to the state involving fees owed to the state for juvenile detention fees incurred for housing Allen County juveniles.
As more fully discussed in an earlier entry, Marion County has sued the state, arguing that the fees are unconstitutional. The suit is in respoonse to a provision passed by the state legislature withholding property tax subsidies designed to offset the costs of property tax restructuring if counties did not pay their juvenile detention debt.
Allen County councilman Paul Moss (R-at large) doesn’t think the juvenile detention fees constitute a legitimate debt. State Senator Tom Wyss told one of the councilmen that if Allen County stopped payment, the state would withhold part of the county’s property tax replacement credits which would result in a property tax increase.
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