Waynetown and Darlington each approved raising the local option income tax for Montgomery County to 1 percent Monday night.

The two northern Montgomery County towns’ unanimous approval coincides with the county council’s approval Oct. 16, which was passed by a 6-1 vote.

Today, Ladoga, New Market and Crawfordsville will vote on the increase from .1 percent to 1 percent. Fifty-one percent of the tax council (county council, city council and all town boards) must approve the raise for it to go into affect.

The county council’s approval made up 44.3 percent of the 51 percent needed. Darlington and Waynetown’s combined percentage is 4.7, equaling 49 percent when added to the county council. Crawfordsville’s vote is 40.5 percent.

If Crawfordsville’s city council votes against the 1 percent, it could still receive the 51 percent required based on how other towns vote. Alamo makes up .4 percent, Ladoga 2.8, Linden 1.9, New Market 1.7, New Richmond and New Ross each are .9 percent, Waveland 1.1 and Wingate .8. The numbers are based on what percentage of the residents live in each designated area, Peebles said.

If passed, Montgomery County taxpayers will see a higher income tax, but a decrease in property taxes, City Attorney Dave Peebles said. The tax would start affecting paychecks Jan. 1. Because the tax comes out of the checks of all taxpayers, there will be more money for the tax revenue fund than just taking a larger percentage from homeowners, said Darlington town board president Kim Carpenter.

Carpenter said once she explained how the taxes affected the Darlington citizens, they welcomed it passing. Carpenter and Waynetown clerk treasurer Beverly Stout said there wasn’t much discussion on the issue at the board meetings.

Eighty percent of the revenue from the tax would go toward homeowners only. The other 20 percent goes toward residential, commercial and rental property. If raised, the 1 percent would allow more than $6.2 million in property tax relief for the county. With the current .1 of 1 percent, there is only $600,000 in relief.

The 80-20 split will allow an estimated 35.69 percent reduction in property tax bills for homeowners and 2.86 percent reduction for rental and commercial properties, according to county figures.

The increase in income tax will benefit those who own property, but also hurt those who don’t own property because the money will still come out of their paycheck, Peebles said.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels announced Oct. 23 a plan to lower homeowner taxes by about one-third by raising the sales tax in the state from 6 to 7 percent, expanding exemptions for homeowners and putting spending limits on local governments.

Peebles said that has no affect on Montgomery County voting to raise the local option income tax to one percent.

Ladoga’s town board meeting is 3 p.m. today, while New Market meets at 6:30 p.m. and Crawfordsville at 7 p.m.