Gov. Mitch Daniels spoke on campus on Oct. 15, giving economic updates and support for a property tax cap to a crowd of about 150 in the Hoosier Room.
The event was hosted by the Southern Indiana Realtors Association, located in Clarksville.
Daniels spoke for about an hour, briefing attendees on the state’s business, revenue and job growth trends, property tax cuts and praising the increase in local business development.
“We need to increase net deposits to Hoosiers,” Daniels said.
He said projections were off 8 percent in the projected revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010, but there are reserves to cover the financial shortcoming.
“I’m not happy with the state of economy anywhere, but we’re slowly fighting the recession,” Daniels said. “The last thing you want to do in a recession is raise taxes, raising taxes is heading in the wrong direction.”
Daniels said he supports maintaining a cap on property tax.
He proposed permanently setting a cap on property tax to 1 percent of a home’s assessed value, a 2 percent cap on rental property and a 3 percent cap on business property.
Lynn Bunn, SIRA executive assistant office administrator and coordinator for the event, said their SIRA local office was informed about three weeks ago from their state association office that the governor would be speaking to them at IU Southeast.
“I think the governor wanted to gather momentum for a permanent tax cap to be set in the state constitution,” Bunn said.
Bunn said she knew one reason why the state association chose IU Southeast for the governor’s speech.
“There were business connections with IU Southeast,” she said.
The event was RSVP-only and SIRA provided a continental breakfast for attendees.
Bunn said realtors, business developers and local politicians were among the attendees at the governor’s speech.
Daniels’ “economic update” speech was sponsored by IU Southeast, Fifth Third Bank and One Southern Indiana-Chamber of Commerce and economic development.
Chancellor Sandra Patterson-Randles attended the speech.
“The governor’s presentation on Indiana’s status in the current recession was very informative and certainly will help our local business and community leaders make well-informed decisions for our region,” Patterson-Randles said. “His appreciation for the work we do here at IU Southeast was quite evident and we are certainly pleased he joined us here on campus for this special event.”
The governor had briefly addressed the controversial East End bridge project. He said if the public wants to see it anytime soon, a partnership must be formed by private and public sectors.
By LEAH TATE
Staff Writer
lmtate@ius.edu