The local option income tax rate paid by St. Joseph County residents will more than double starting in October.

The current local income tax rate of .8% will increase by another .95%, making the total rate 1.75% this fall.

The tax hike will bring in about 46 million dollars in additional revenue, although 23 million will be used to reduce property taxes for residential, industrial, commercial and agricultural properties.

The remaining 20.8 million dollars will be doled out to various local units of government.

Final approval of the tax hike proposal came by the slimmest of margins late Tuesday night from members of the St. Joseph County Council.

The vote was 5-4. The tally didn't follow party lines but it did follow the lines that mark the South Bend city limits--following debate that largely painted the tax increase as a South Bend bailout.

"Don't let them push you into this," warned Kelly Havens of Citizens for Common Sense. "You know it's wrong, you know you have the money, you know South Bend has other options."

Harris Township Board member Jeff Broadwick added, "As bad as I feel for the situation that South Bend finds themselves in, the county is not nearly as bad a spot."

Lakeville Town Board member John Kuhn also addressed the council, "We have faith that the county council will listen to county residents and not be mislead by what is mostly a South Bend problem and vote no to any tax increase at this time."

South Bend resident Conrad Damian was one of the speakers who argued that the tax hike was not a bailout for the city. "I'm afraid that in this debate, there have been people who have made negative comments about South Bend which I dearly love, and that it's important for everyone to know that South Bend is part of St. Joseph County."

Damian went on to say, "I know that you represent South Bend as well as St. Joseph County, I pay county taxes, I don't just pay city taxes, I pay county taxes that go for roads, parks, police: roads, parks and police that I rarely, if ever, use."

In the end, a majority of county council members supported the tax hike proposal, although there was some evidence that the bailout talk "hit home."

The five yes votes came from the five county councilmen who just happen to live in the City of South Bend.

The four no votes just happened to come from the four county councilmen who live outside the city limits.

"I would have to say coincidence 'cause it had nothing no bearing on my vote," insisted Councilman Corey Noland, the only Democrat to vote no, and the only Democrat on the council who does not make his home in South Bend.

"It was county against city basically is what it was," said Councilman Dennis Schafer of Lakeville. "I felt we were bailing out the city, that's what we did, it was a bailout for the city."

St. Joseph County Council President Rafael Morton argued, "St. Joseph County, the City of South Bend, the City of Mishawaka, we're still one community, and we're looking at deficits that are just impossible to deal with without new revenue streams."

Morton added, "We heard tonight opinions of systemic failure of the City of South Bend and their administration, I tend to disagree with that. There again, no one asked for House Bill 1001 (Indiana's property tax reform initiative) I will go so far as to say I felt that state legislators really did not do their due diligence looking at the devastating effects that House Bill 1001 would have on St. Joe County."

Both St. Joseph County and the City of South Bend will lose property tax revenues to the property tax caps called for in House Bill 1001. South Bend stands to lose about 20-million dollars, while the county stands to lose six million dollars to the caps.

St. Joseph County Council members voting in favor of the tax hike were Rafael Morton, Mike Kruk, Mark Catanzarite, Randall Przybysz, and Heath Weaver.

Members voting no were Corey Noland, Dennis Schafer, Dale Devon, and Mark Root.