From Aug. 20 to 22, the Brown County Council will be reviewing the budgets of every county department, the townships, the conservancy and solid waste districts and the Town of Nashville, as they do every year. They’ll be trying to get a picture of what will be needed to provide services versus how much money will be coming in to do it, and to understand what impact that might all have on taxpayers.

On Monday night, Aug. 27, the council will host a community discussion at the Brown County Public Library. A panel will discuss where tax money comes from and where it goes, and the county’s hired adviser will talk about the county’s five-year financial plan.

At this discussion, the county council also wants to hear feedback from taxpayers about their income taxes. The council has to vote each year on whether or not it will raise the income tax levy, as the state allows counties to do.

County council President Keith Baker and other council members have said that they don’t want to raise taxes, and that they want to hear from voters before they make any such votes. This presentation and discussion is a way to help the community understand where the county is in its finances right now and where it may be in five years, so that the public and elected officials can make informed decisions.

Information will be presented in a “common man” way, Baker said. “This is a good opportunity for somebody that doesn’t understand at all where tax money is coming from.”

The discussion will start at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 27 in the Brown County Public Library’s lower-level meeting rooms B and C.

Panelists will include Baker, Brown County Auditor Beth Mulry, Brown County Treasurer Mary Smith, and representatives from the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance and Umbaugh & Associates.

Some tax decisions, the county council has control over, and some it doesn’t, Baker added.

“It’s important to show what our assets are as we move forward in our future plans,” he said.