Section 3 of 10
County government in law
From Indiana's Counties Going Into the 2026 Election · Ben Hizer · October 11, 2026
County government in law
Read from the official 2026 Indiana Code (iga.in.gov), the Indiana Constitution and DLGF's 2026 budget calendar.
Two boards with different jobs
- Board of commissioners: the executive, and in most counties the legislature. Three members serve staggered four-year terms; each lives in a district but is elected countywide. They: — run county departments and hire the county administrator; — approve claims and sign or review contracts; — build and maintain roads and the jail; — pass ordinances, including zoning (IC 36-2-2; IC 36-7-4-601).
- County council: the money. Seven members: four by district and three at large. The council: — fixes tax rates and levies; — makes every appropriation; — sets every salary and the number of positions in every office; — approves borrowing; — adopts local income taxes (IC 36-2-3, 36-2-5). — It can cut a budget request, and needs a three-fourths vote to add spending beyond an estimate.
- Exceptions: — Marion County has a single executive (the mayor of Indianapolis) and the 25-member City-County Council (IC 36-3). — Lake County elects every seat by district and formally separates executive and legislative powers. — A few counties can opt into that split model (IC 36-2-3.5).
The other elected offices
| Office | Core job | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Auditor | The county's fiscal officer: keeps the books, compiles the budget, pays claims, calculates tax bills, distributes taxes and income tax to every unit | Indiana counties have no comptroller; the auditor plays that role. The State Comptroller (the former Auditor of State) receives settlement reports but does not supervise county budgets. DLGF and the State Board of Accounts do. |
| Treasurer | Collects property taxes, invests county funds, holds tax sales | Must meet investment-training rules if the county is ever declared "unauditable" |
| Assessor | Values property; certifies gross assessed value | Also township assessors in larger townships |
| Recorder | Records deeds, mortgages and liens | Fee-funded in part |
| Surveyor | Legal surveys, section corners, regulated drains | Chairs drainage work; not term-limited |
| Sheriff | County law enforcement; runs the jail | The commissioners must provide the jail and the council funds it. The Department of Correction inspects jails yearly and can go to court over conditions. Sheriff pay is set by a formula. |
| Coroner | Death investigations | New 2026 training rules with penalties |
| Clerk of the circuit court | Court records and fees; runs elections (chairs the election board, voter registration) | |
| Prosecuting attorney | Criminal prosecution for the judicial circuit | The state pays the base salary and chief deputy; the county pays staff, and its salary supplement for a full-time prosecutor is capped at $5,000 |
- Term limits: the Constitution limits the clerk, auditor, recorder, treasurer, sheriff and coroner to 8 years in any 12. The surveyor, assessor, prosecutor, commissioners and council members have no limit.
- Staffing: every elected officer hires deputies and staff, but only within the positions and pay the council approves.
- Discipline: a 2026 law requires every county to adopt a personnel handbook. It also confirms that each elected officer keeps the final say on disciplining their own staff (IC 36-2-21).
- Contracts: an officer's contracts must be signed by the commissioners or sent to them for review, and the commissioners may void a contract that skipped that step (IC 36-2-2.9).
The budget year, step by step
| When | What happens | Who |
|---|---|---|
| By July 1 | State sets the maximum levy growth (4% for 2026, 6% for 2027) | State Budget Agency |
| Before July 2 | Each office files staff and salary requests | Officers → auditor |
| Early August | Itemized budget requests due; assessed values certified | Officers; auditor |
| First August meeting | Council reviews every taxing unit's levy limits and tax-cap losses countywide and may send recommendations | Council |
| Before Sept. 2 | Binding review of appointed boards' budgets (the council may cut, not raise) | Council |
| 10+ days before the hearing | Budget notice posted on Indiana Gateway | County |
| Public hearing, then adoption by Nov. 1 (Nov. 2 in 2026) | Budget, tax rates and a separate salary ordinance | Council |
| Within 5 business days | Adopted budget filed with DLGF | Auditor |
| By Dec. 31 | DLGF certifies budgets, rates and levies. It can cut but not raise them, and will not approve without the annual financial report and the contract-upload attestation | DLGF |
| During the year | Additional appropriations need an emergency finding, notice and a hearing | Council, DLGF |
Limits the county works within:
- Levy growth cap. Since 2026, appeals above the cap are allowed only for annexation or emergencies.
- Tax caps. The constitutional caps are 1%, 2% and 3% of assessed value. Revenue lost to them cannot be made up by a higher levy.
- Debt. Total debt is limited to 2% of adjusted assessed value. Since July 2025, any bond or lease in a county with a debt-service rate above $0.25 goes to remonstrance or referendum (road projects exempt).
- Audits. The State Board of Accounts audits at least every four years.
Who decides what
| Decision | Commissioners | Council | Other office | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | Prepare their own; recommend salaries | Adopt; cut; 3/4 vote to add | Each office requests its own | DLGF certifies |
| Tax rates and levies | — | Fix | Auditor and assessor certify values | Growth cap; DLGF certifies |
| Local income tax | — | Adopt (alone in all counties from 2028) | Auditor distributes | SBA certifies amounts |
| Salaries and positions | Recommend; set administrator pay | Fix by ordinance | Hire within approved positions | Pays prosecutor base and judges |
| Contracts and claims | Approve claims; sign or review contracts | Appropriate first | Auditor pays | SBOA audits |
| Roads | Build and maintain; hire the engineer | Fund; adopt wheel tax | Surveyor (drains) | INDOT grants |
| Zoning | Adopt after plan commission | Fund | — | 2026 housing and zoning mandates |
| Jail | Provide the jail | Fund; jail income tax until 2029 | Sheriff runs it | DOC inspects; 2026 ICE cooperation rule |
| Elections | Fund; draw districts | Appropriate | Clerk runs them | Election Commission |
New in 2025–2026
- Local income tax rebuild, delayed to 2028 adoption and 2029 rates (HEA 1210-2026). From then on the council is the only county body that adopts it. The "MUST" task force lets counties negotiate shares with cities and towns now.
- Levy appeals narrowed; debt referendums triggered more often (SEA 1-2025).
- 2026 laws for counties: — personnel handbooks; — the commissioners may set the county administrator's salary; — training penalties for coroners; — community corrections trust funds; — jail medical copays up to $30; — required jail cooperation with ICE; — civilian police oversight boards limited to advising; — township merger pairings.
- Data centers that sign an agreement with a county or city must pay that local government up to 1% of the sales tax they don't pay on electricity.
- Zoning: new housing and zoning mandates.
- Not changed in 2026: Health First Indiana, wind and solar siting rules, and data center zoning.
- To confirm: — HEA 1210's summary says it removed the rule that current income-tax rates expire after 2028 unless renewed, but the 2026 code text still contains it. The enrolled act should be read before advising a county on this. — Two versions of the jail standards statute exist (2026 and 2027).
Whose job this is, on this ballot
Everything above is some office's responsibility, and most of those offices are on the ballot on Nov. 3. Below is which office does which part of it, what the law puts in the job, and what this study found about it.
County Council Member 368 races on this ballot
Adopts the county budget and the levy, and adopts the local income tax rates — including the 2028 rebuild, which every council must adopt between July 1 and Oct. 1 of 2028.
In this study Councils were already deciding in 2025–26: about eight raised the income tax, roughly 35–40 took a documented step toward the county–city negotiation, and the hardest votes split 4–3 and 5–4.
County Commissioner 94 races on this ballot
The county's executive: contracts, buildings, highways and ordinances, including wheel taxes and zoning questions the council then funds.
In this study Wheel taxes, jail and justice-center projects, and data-center moratoriums are commissioner-and-council business; 57% of commissioner races this year are uncontested.
County Auditor 65 races on this ballot
Keeps the county's books, applies every deduction and exemption to assessed value, certifies the net value to the state, and calculates the bills with the treasurer.
In this study Auditors turned out to be the in-house analysts of the 2025 overhaul — in Jay, Shelby and Owen they led the income-tax and task-force work, and Madison's auditor warned publicly about rainy-day use and jail bonds.
County Assessor 92 races on this ballot
Values property, and moves values toward the market each year using sales data. Assessed value is the base every deduction and every tax cap is applied to.
In this study State cost-table increases raised assessments sharply — Morgan +32% then +24%, Switzerland +35% — and assessors say they are understaffed for their parcel counts. Every county elects an assessor this year; seven of those races are contested.
County Treasurer 15 races on this ballot
Collects what is owed, holds and invests county cash, and makes the transfers between funds the state requires.
In this study Cash position is now the live question: Floyd and Knox ended 2025 with about 44 days of general-fund cash, and Knox took $3.8M in loans from its rainy-day fund.
County Sheriff 92 races on this ballot
Runs the jail and the patrol division, and asks the council for the staff and the building to do it.
In this study Jails and sheriffs take $1.04B of 2026 county budgets — the fastest-growing claim on them. Grant, Madison and Monroe hold about 30% more people than their stated limits; Allen, Howard, Madison and Monroe have jail projects of $100M to $270M. Every county elects a sheriff this year.
Prosecuting Attorney 92 races on this ballot
Charges and tries criminal cases for the circuit, and staffs the office the council funds.
In this study Staffing is the recurring request: Vanderburgh asked for more than six new prosecutors, Howard for six deputies (tabled), and Tippecanoe has nine attorney vacancies. Hancock is pursuing pay parity between prosecutors and public defenders.
Clerk of the Circuit Court 62 races on this ballot
Runs elections and keeps the court's records.
In this study Clerks appear in these minutes mostly through election costs and staffing; Lawrence made an emergency voter-registration hire in October 2026.
County Coroner 22 races on this ballot
Determines cause of death, and contracts the autopsies and forensic work the county pays for.
In this study Jasper's coroner asked for a forensic center as part of a $2.08M five-year plan, and a 2026 law adds training requirements for coroners.
School Board Member 632 races on this ballot
Adopts the school corporation's budget and its own levy, and decides which buildings stay open.
In this study Schools take about $0.42 of every property-tax dollar levied in Indiana. Enrollment is the pressure underneath: Elkhart is down 2,336 students since 2018–19 and is closing four elementary schools, and the 2025 overhaul dissolves Randolph County's Union School Corporation on July 1, 2027.
Township Trustee 939 races on this ballot
Runs township assistance and, in many townships, the fire service — on its own small levy.
In this study Townships take about $0.03 of every property-tax dollar, and fire and EMS are where the most new county income-tax money is going: Carroll, Martin, Shelby, Steuben, Union and Wells all added rates for it.
- What's included
- the U.S. House, statewide offices, every Indiana House and Senate district on the ballot, Indiana's statewide public questions and judicial retention questions, and county, township, city, town and school board races from the Indiana Election Division's candidate list.
- Everything else
- Local races (county, city, school board, judges) and anything else on your ballot are on your official sample ballot: IndianaVoters.in.gov.
- Candidate lists
- As of Monday, October 19, 2026.
- At the polls
- Indiana law lets you bring a list of candidates and public questions into the polling place, including one stored on your phone, as long as you don't electioneer. IC 3-11-8-18.5
This is not an official ballot. Confirm your registration, polling place and ballot with your election office through vote.gov.