Elkhart County, 40 years ago, was the largest county in the state to adopt the County Adjusted Income Tax (CAGIT) at the maximum 1 percent rate allowed by the law signed by Gov. Otis Bowen. The state collects the revenue and returns the collected revenue based upon filed individual income tax returns.
If somebody has local option income taxes withheld and doesn’t file an income tax return, what happens to the revenue? A front page article in The Goshen News (Feb. 23) mentioned that the revenue difference would go into the state general fund. Further, the article mentioned that some local officials were concerned that Elkhart County was losing some revenue from Local Option Income Taxes (LOIT).
However, that point of view overlooks the fact that the excess LOIT revenue could be distributed as tuition support for Indiana K-12 public school corporations. The Indiana Department of Revenue doesn’t keep records detailed enough to tell us if an Indiana county would gain or lose revenue with this process.
How should tuition support per student be determined for Indiana school corporations? The state, for example, might send a check for $6,000 per student to K-12 school corporations. However, are the per-student costs higher in Gary and Hammond than in Elkhart County? Therefore, how can the per-student amounts be determined if they are different? Property tax is the major source of revenue for Indiana schools. If Warsaw schools had a $1 school rate some years ago, Hammond and Gary needed about a $3 rate to raise the same amount of revenue per student. Thus, it seems reasonable to me that Hammond and Gary receive more tuition support per student from the state.
— Ralph Spelbring
Elkhart
Letters to the Editor
Is extra money being spent on per-student tuition support?
- Letters to the Editor
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Safety along C.R. 35 is a concern
This letter is meant to bring awareness and hopefully corrections in regard to C.R. 35 in Elkhart County. Something needs to be done immediately to enforce the laws pertaining to the use of C.R. 35.
- Emphasis on gun control makes you wonder
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Goshen should stick with ‘Redskins’
I must respond to the letter to the editor from Mr. Ron Chupp (The Goshen News, May 9). What’s in a name, Mr. Chupp? I too have a Native American heritage, and for some reason, I am not offended by the term Redskins, or brown skins or any other color of skins.
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More important issues than a nickname
I would like to, in the most respectful way possible, respond to Mr. Chupp’s letter (The Goshen News, May 9) regarding the ongoing debate over the term “Redskins” being used as the nickname and mascot for the Goshen school system.
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There is hope through God
May I share what happened to me after praying about the issue of whether to have guns carried by school authorities at Goshen High School. While calling out to God, my question was: Why have we as a nation come to trusting in government agencies, such as Homeland Security, rather than obeying the Constitution in what you have declared through our forefathers?
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Sheriff has this reader's support
This letter is in defense of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and in response to Shari Mellin’s letter (The Goshen News, May 8) about Sheriff Brad Rogers not obeying the laws related to anti-gun legislation
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‘Redskins’ nickname is offensive
The question posed (in the May 5 edition) was, “What’s in a Name?” In the case of the GHS (Redskins) mascot, it is insult, degradation, racism, and an ongoing slap-in-the face reminder of the disgusting manner in which my Native American ancestors were treated by Europeans.
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Millrace projects threaten a Goshen gem
The city of Goshen is in the 11th hour for the five Redevelopment Commission members to hear the voices of its residents concerning the millrace redevelopment proposals at its next meeting at 4 p.m. on May 14.
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We don’t need a community center
We want to keep this short and to the point. We keep reading articles and letters in the papers about the proposed community center in Goshen. Our question is why?
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Freedom-loving Americans want our country back
We are living in unprecedented times. The “America” of today is not the America that many of us grew up in.
- More Letters to the Editor Headlines
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Safety along C.R. 35 is a concern




