Pulaski County schedules consultant interviews for comprehensive plan and flags potential $1M income-tax revenue loss under SCA 1

Pulaski County officials said they will interview five consulting firms next Thursday to select a contractor for a countywide comprehensive plan, and that they aim to recommend a firm to county commissioners by May 4. The chair estimated the plan would take nine to 12 months and anticipated adoption around mid-2027.

The chair described the procurement: the county self-funded a more detailed RFP after timing and grant-match constraints forced a delay, solicited 12 firms via the Indiana Chapter of the American Planning Association and received five proposals. “Next Thursday, we will be interviewing all 5 applicants,” the chair said.

The county also plans public engagement sessions that will include the redevelopment commission, the economic development commission and the tourism council, the chair said, and noted the county is bringing back Baker Tilly to update its county financial plan to help align budget decisions with comprehensive-plan recommendations.

The meeting included a fiscal-warning claim about state tax changes. The chair said recent tax caps and a state income-tax restructuring referenced in the transcript as “SCA 1” have reduced levy revenue and could further cut county income-tax receipts. “Once SCA 1's income tax restructuring goes into effect, the county is gonna lose initially, gonna lose about 1000000 dollars a year in income tax,” the chair said. The transcript records this as the chair’s projection; it was not substantiated with supporting documents during the meeting.

Context: the chair told the group the county lost about $7,000 of expected levy revenue one year and about $107,000 the next year because of property-tax caps and credits, and he said some of the income-tax loss could be offset later by higher allowable property-tax levies but remain exposed to expanded credits and exemptions.

Why it matters: officials said updated financial planning is needed to set guidelines for spending economic-development revenue from projects such as solar, and the comprehensive plan is intended to guide priorities for redevelopment, tourism and economic development.

Next steps: interviews of the five proposers will be held next Thursday; staff will compile interview results and the chair expects to ask commissioners to approve a recommendation by early May. The comprehensive-plan timeline given at the meeting anticipates a 9–12 month planning process and potential adoption around mid-2027.