County government

What this level is

The county is the longest part of an Indiana ballot and usually the least explained. Eleven offices are elected separately rather than appointed by one county manager, because Indiana splits the work of taxing and spending so that no single officer does all of it. One office values property, another applies the deductions and keeps the books, a third collects the money, and a fourth decides what it may be spent on. The diagram below shows which office hands what to which.

• A county has only the powers the General Assembly gives it. Its budget also has to be certified by the state before the taxes in it can be collected. ^{[1, 2]}
• In 91 of 92 counties a three-member board of commissioners is the county executive, and in most of those it is also the legislative body that passes ordinances. A separately elected county council controls the money. Marion County is the exception, because most of its county government runs through the consolidated city. ^{[3, 1, 4]}
• Money can be paid out only under an appropriation the council has made, and the auditor is forbidden to let an appropriation be overdrawn; doing so knowingly is a criminal offense. This is why the office that spends money and the office that releases it are never the same person. ^{[5, 6, 7]}

How these offices work together

Each item below is one step the law requires: which office hands what to which, and why.

1. County Council → to Commissioners

   The council appropriates every dollar the commissioners spend, and sets the pay and the number of every county officer, deputy and employee in a separate salary ordinance. No county office can add staff without the council agreeing to pay for it. ^{[5, 14, 15]}

2. Assessor → to Auditor

   The assessor values property across the county and certifies the gross assessed values to the auditor. Every tax bill in the county is calculated from those values. ^[16]

3. Auditor → to State (DLGF) (A state agency. No election fills it.)

   The auditor subtracts the deductions and exemptions and certifies the resulting net assessed value to the Department of Local Government Finance by Aug. 1. If a certified statement is later amended, the auditor has to give written notice first. ^[17]

4. State (DLGF) (A state agency. No election fills it.) → to County Council

   The state divides each unit's levy by its net assessed value to get a tax rate, and certifies the budget. It can cut a budget but cannot raise one. No office on the ballot performs this step. ^{[2, 18]}

5. Auditor → to Treasurer

   The treasurer receives the county's money and pays it out only on warrants the auditor issues. The two settle the tax accounts with each other twice a year, by June 20 and Dec. 20. ^{[19, 20]}

6. Treasurer → to County Council

   The treasurer mails the bills by April 15 and collects them for every unit that taxes the same ground: the county, the cities and towns, the townships, the school corporations and the libraries. A taxpayer gets one bill even though several governments are on it. ^[4]

7. Auditor → to Commissioners

   The auditor is the county's fiscal officer and also the clerk of both the commissioners and the council, which means the same office keeps the books and keeps the record of the meetings. The auditor presents claims to the commissioners to be allowed before they are paid. ^{[21, 22, 23]}

8. Clerk → to Auditor

   The clerk is the clerk of every court in the county and collects the fees those courts charge, forwarding them to the auditor within 30 days. ^{[24, 25]}

9. Commissioners → to Sheriff

   The commissioners have to establish and maintain the county jail that the sheriff runs, so the building is their responsibility and the operation of it is the sheriff's. The sheriff reports to them on its condition. ^{[13, 26, 27]}

10. Sheriff → to Clerk

    The sheriff serves process issued by the courts and the commissioners, and attends the county courts and keeps order in them. ^[26]

11. Surveyor → to Commissioners

    The surveyor is the technical authority on regulated drains and sits on the drainage board without a vote. The decisions on drain assessments and maintenance are made by the commissioners. ^{[28, 29]}

12. County Council → to Assessor

    Whether assessments are accurate depends mostly on how many trained staff the assessor has, and the council sets the number and pay of the deputies in every county office. So the quality of the values in step 2 is decided in a different race. ^{[14, 15]}

Every office at this level 985 races on this ballot

• Prosecuting Attorney

  92 races in Indiana this year

  The elected lawyer who brings criminal cases for the State of Indiana in a judicial circuit and runs the office that enforces child support.

• Clerk of the Circuit Court

  62 races in Indiana this year

  Clerk of every court in the county, collector of court fees, a member of the county election board and, in most counties, the voter registration officer.

• County Auditor

  65 races in Indiana this year

  The county's fiscal officer: keeps the books, pays claims only against appropriations, and works out tax rates and distributions for every local government in the county.

• County Recorder

  54 races in Indiana this year

  Records and indexes deeds, mortgages, plats and other land documents.

• County Sheriff

  92 races in Indiana this year

  A constitutional county officer who keeps the peace, serves court papers, keeps order in county courts and runs the county jail.

• County Assessor

  92 races in Indiana this year

  Oversees property assessment countywide: equalization, certifying assessments to the auditor, finding omitted property and assessing in townships without their own assessor.

• County Coroner

  22 races in Indiana this year

  Investigates deaths in the county and determines the cause, manner and mechanism of death.

• County Surveyor

  29 races in Indiana this year

  Supervises county surveying and civil engineering and is the technical authority on regulated drains.

• County Treasurer

  15 races in Indiana this year

  Receives the county's money, bills and collects property taxes for every local unit, invests idle funds and pays warrants issued by the auditor.

• County Commissioner

  94 races in Indiana this year

  In 91 of 92 counties, a three-member board of commissioners is the county executive (and, in most counties, also its legislative body); the council controls the money. In Marion County the elected assessor, auditor and treasurer…

• County Council Member

  368 races in Indiana this year

  The county council is the county's fiscal body: it sets the county property tax rate and levy, appropriates every dollar the county spends, adopts local income tax rates and fixes the pay and number of county employees. Marion…

The problems this level has to solve

What the people elected to these offices will have to decide in the term starting in 2027, and why each one is a problem.

• Every county council has to adopt its rebuilt local income tax between July 1 and Oct. 1 of 2028, inside the term being elected. The council decides how much the county keeps, how much goes to fire and emergency medical service, and how its rate fits with the cities and towns adopting their own rates for the first time. ^{[8, 9]}
• The 2025 overhaul enlarges the property tax deductions, so the net assessed value the auditor certifies grows more slowly than the market value of the property behind it. Because the tax caps are a percentage of that value, a larger share of each levy is erased instead of collected, and the county never receives it. ^{[9, 10]}
• At its first meeting in August the council reviews the levy and the tax-cap loss of every unit in the county, not just the county's own. It is the only elected body in the county that sees all of it together before the state certifies the budgets. ^{[11, 12]}
• Jails and sheriffs are the fastest-growing claim on county budgets. The commissioners' duty to maintain a jail is a legal obligation, so it does not shrink to fit what the council is able to appropriate, which is why jail costs tend to push other spending out. ^[13]

Sources