For the second time in two weeks the St. Joseph County Council cancelled a meeting called to discuss a possible increase in the option income tax.

This time, the meeting slated for Tuesday, December 30th went by the wayside.

It takes six council members to constitute a quorum and thanks to the holidays, the numbers just weren't there.

Earlier today, opponents of the proposed tax hike called a news conference to say that their calendars had been cleared for Tuesday night's meeting.

"We will be there; we will be prepared to speak. They're going to hear an earful I can promise you that," said Kelly Havens of Citizens for Common Sense.

Juan Manigault of Integrity PAC added, "I had to come back, I have a mother in law who has cancer. We were up in Minnesota and I had to leave my wife there and come back to address this issue."

Turns out the issue won't be addressed after all. The meeting was cancelled after a fourth councilman served notice that he wouldn't be there.

"Well, then the people don't have to pay any more taxes next year," said an unapologetic Councilman Dale Devon.

"With my wife's birthday on the 31st, and my kids are down in Indy so we plan to head down that way and spend some time with them," Devon said.

The cancellation will apparently spare the county the wrath of Roseland. At least one Roseland Town Council member had planned to use the meeting to publicly express his option tax concerns.

"I believe its called taxation without representation," said Ted Penn. "I think our vote would be no more taxes Mayor Luecke, no more, Roseland does not want taxes, we need the money, but we don't need the taxes."

The cancellation means another meeting on the income tax proposal can't be called until April.