This post was provided by News Now Warsaw
By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — A town hall meeting in Warsaw that will focus on statewide property tax reform has been expanded to include State Sen. Chris Garten who is now expected to become the state senate leader.
State Sen. Ryan Mishler and Rep. Craig Snow of Warsaw were already scheduled to participate in the late-September event, but will now be joined by Garton, who was praised on Wednesday by both Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and President Donald Trump.
Garton is now expected to replace Rod Bray, a target of President Trump, who recently announced plans to step down from his GOP leadership position.
Bray did not support Trump’s failed redistricting efforts in Indiana, which was intended to ensure all nine of Indiana’s Congressional district could be controlled by Republicans.
Bray is one of about six Republican senators that Trump retaliated against for failure to support redistricting. Many of those lost in primary re-election bids in May.
Trump used social media on Wednesday to congratulate Garton while continuing to bash Bray over the Senate’s defeat in December of congressional redistricting.
“This finishes off my work against political leaders in the state Senate who let our country down,” Trump said in a story reported by Indiana Capital Chronicle. “If they did what they should have done, and what every other State did, as requested, we would have had two more seats in the House of Representatives!”
The upcoming town hall meeting on property taxes is set for Sept. 29 at the Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion in Warsaw.
Mishler is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Snow has become a leading voice on the House Ways and Means Committee.
They’re expected to highlight details on possible changes sought by Mishler in the state’s reliance on the homestead tax.
That plan will likely be one of several property tax proposals including one that seeks to replace property taxes with a switch to a sales tax on certain services that will be filed ahead of the upcoming General Assembly in January.
As of Thursday morning, the town hall was not being promoted on the Kosciusko County Republican Facebook page.
The event is organized by Kristi Ormsby who has overseen campaigns for Mishler, Snow and other area Republicans.
To read the latest story about Garten, check out the Indiana Capital Chronicle story here.
