Merrillville amends municipal vehicle excise language, anticipates modest revenue increase

Council adopted ordinance 25-41 on Dec. 23, amending the town’s municipal vehicle excise and wheel-tax language.

Town Manager Michael Griffin explained the revision cleans up existing code and adds additional discrete vehicle categories permitted by state law (for example by truck weight) to better align with available revenue options. Griffin said the town is already at or near the maximum for certain vehicle classes and that the proposed changes could increase annual revenue by an estimated $20,543.

Council discussed the changes and thanked staff for the work; the ordinance passed on roll call. Griffin and staff noted the change is intended to make the town’s wheel/excise language clearer and to capture modest additional revenue without broad rate changes.

The amendment will be codified; staff will monitor the fiscal effect and report in subsequent budget documents.