Potential food and beverage tax in Greenwood fails to pass committee

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — This week the City of Greenwood testified in the State House, asking for permission to enact a new one percent food and beverage tax.

“I thought we had a very strong case. We were asking for a food and beverage tax of one percent for the Greenwood area,” Mayor of Greenwood Mark Myers said.

Mayor Myers said Greenwood was just one of nearly a dozen cities asking for the tax.

“The committee decided not to pass any of the food and beverage bills on for a vote, so it’s very disheartening,” he said.

He believes this tax is important for the growing city with increasingly strained resources.

“We wanted that to be specifically used for public safety,” he said, “It was going toward law enforcement, fire department, EMS.”

Greenwood’s Assistant Police Chief Matt Fillenwarth said Greenwood desperately needs more police officers.

“We are really low, it’s really taxing on the entire department just trying to keep up with the duties we have currently,” Fillenwarth said.

He feels the community would be willing to pay one percent more on food and beverage purchases for the benefit of more officers.

“We talk to the citizens in our community, everybody we speak to is very positive for this, they want to see more police officers in their neighborhoods,” Fillenwarth said.

The mayor is frustrated because he feels that by killing the bill, the House Ways and Means Committee is handcuffing the city.

“What bothers me most is the fact that the House is not giving us a tax, they’re giving us the approval to take it our local community for a vote with the city council,” Myers said.

This tax could be included in another bill later in the session, in either the House or the Senate.

If it doesn’t come back this year, Fillenwarth believes the city will try again next year.

This is the second year Greenwood has asked the state for this tax, and for the second year, the bill was voted down.