The money: 92 county budgets

The money: 92 county budgets

This section uses a comparable dataset of every county government for 2023–2026, built from:

• Indiana Gateway adopted budgets and annual financial reports;
• DLGF certified budgets, levies and tax-cap credits;
• State Budget Agency local income tax distributions;
• Census population.

Figures are for the county unit only, not cities, schools or townships. Files: data/county_finance.csv (368 rows, 97 fields) plus growth, function and debt tables.

How big, and how fast it grew

• Growth: budgets grew about 16 times faster than population. The typical county's adopted budget rose 21.3%.
• Fastest growth: Clinton (+59%), Fountain, Whitley and Floyd lead on certified budgets, the cleanest comparison. Hamilton's adopted budget rose 45%, including a new food-and-beverage tax fund, 911 dispatch income tax money and debt payments.
• Size: the five largest, Marion, Lake, Allen, Hamilton and St. Joseph, hold 31% of the total. Marion is not comparable to the others, because most of its government runs through the consolidated city.

[embedded content: Indiana Gateway budget forms 1 and 4B, 2026 adopted budgets; functions assigned from fund and department names (about 2% unclassified); data/county\_finance\_functions\_long.csv\]

• Public safety (sheriff, jail, dispatch, EMS) rose from 26.7% of budgets in 2023 to 29.3% in 2026, from $1.32B to $1.74B. It is now the largest and fastest-growing share, and it matches the jail and EMS projects showing up across county minutes.
• Roads fell from 15.3% to 14.7% of budgets between 2025 and 2026. Health fell from 4.1% to 3.1%, and federal relief (ARP) money fell from 2.1% to 1.5%, most of it now Lake's $75M construction line.
• Welfare and social services are under 1% of county budgets.

Small counties pay more per resident

• Highest per resident: Newton ($2,030), Pulaski, Pike, Warren, White, Fountain, Benton and Parke, all under 26,000 people. Every county must run the same set of offices, courts and a jail whatever its size, so fixed costs are spread over fewer residents.
• Lowest (after Marion): Delaware ($572), Clark, Johnson, Tippecanoe and Madison.
• Why this matters for the tax overhaul: the LIT rebuild in 2028 sets one cap for every county. Small counties with high fixed costs have the least room.

Reserves: most have them; a few are thin

• The typical county ended 2025 with 416 days of cash across its own funds, and a general fund reserve equal to 68% of a year's general fund spending. Statewide, rainy-day funds held $354M.
• Thinnest: Floyd and Knox ended 2025 with about 44 days of general fund cash, down from stronger positions in 2023. Crawford, Wells, Greene, Switzerland, Cass, Tippecanoe and Scott follow.
• High totals hide restricted money. Most cash sits in restricted funds (roads, income tax set-asides, debt), so a county can hold high total cash and still have a thin general fund. That is exactly the fund that pays for sheriffs and courts.

Debt

• $1.99B was reported by 69 of 91 counties at the end of 2025; 22 reported none.
• Marion holds $722M, mostly its Criminal Justice Center ($637M). Outside Marion, the big borrowing is also for jails and justice centers.
• New limit: since July 2025, any new bond or lease in a county whose debt-service rate tops $0.25 goes to remonstrance or referendum.

Property tax vs. income tax

• Statewide, property tax is 63% of what county units raise from levy plus local income tax.
• Leaning on income tax: Ripley, Owen, Floyd and Boone, the counties most exposed to how the 2028 income-tax rebuild treats them.
• Leaning on property tax: Lake and Porter (about 87%), the most exposed to the deduction changes and the tax caps.

Revenue already lost to the tax caps

• Most exposed: Delaware (25% of its levy lost to credits), Wayne (23%), Vigo (23%), St. Joseph (21%), Madison and Howard (18%). The same counties led in 2025.
• Largest dollar losses in 2026: Marion ($27.9M), St. Joseph ($17.6M), Vanderburgh, Lake, Vigo and Allen.

Limits of the data:

• Functions are assigned line by line from Gateway fund, department and account codes (revised Oct. 12, 2026, which moved highway money out of general government and removed duplicated budget lines). About 1% of budgets and 5% of 2025 actual spending stay unclassified.
• Some adopted-budget growth (Floyd, Owen, Porter, Boone) reflects funds newly added to Gateway.
• Debt is what counties self-report.
• Lawrence's 2025 financial report is missing.
• There are no 2026 actuals yet.