Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
The city of Lebanon this fall will ask voters if it can increase property taxes to pay for a new police headquarters to be built on a city-owned site at Superior and Meridian streets.
The police department currently operates out of a 64-year-old building constructed in 1962 at 201 E. Main St. that previously housed several city departments under one roof.
Lebanon Mayor Matt Gentry posted on Facebook on June 18 that the city plans to hold a capital referendum in November, which will give voters the final say on whether the city can increase taxes for up to 20 years to pay for the project.
According to Gentry’s social media post, the project’s maximum cost of $52.16 million will have an estimated annual tax impact of $216 per year for a home with an assessed value of $250,000. But the city expects the project will cost less than that. Gentry told IBJ he hopes to deliver a project that cost between $3o million to $35 million range.
And Gentry cautioned that the tax impact figure is also high because it is based on 2026 taxes, which do not take into consideration the large commercial developments currently under construction for Eli Lilly & Co. and Meta. Those projects are expected to expand Lebanon’s tax base once they are fully online.
“Adding just $1 billion in new commercial value drops the median homeowner’s impact from $216 down to $152/year,” he wrote. “We are nearing $20 Billion in planned investment in the LEAP district.”
At that point, the tax impact is expected to be roughly $30 per year, according to the city’s financial adviser Baker Tilly, Gentry’s post said.
Gentry said that over the past five years, city officials have had to “repeatedly spend your tax dollars on emergency fixes — including major roof leaks, severe sewage backups onto operational floors, air quality concerns and electrical issues.”
A spreadsheet provided to the IBJ tracks repairs made to the building since the start of 2023. Those total about $135,000.
Renovating the existing station is not a viable option, he said.
When the 17,000-square-foot headquarters building was first constructed, the city likely had five or six officers, Gentry estimated. Now, it has 49 officers.
While plans are still preliminary, the new building would be about 50,000 square feet and designed to house a force of 100 officers to accommodate the growing city.
“We’re trying to plan out 50 years, and so I think being around 100 officers is probably a fair assessment,” Gentry said. “We look at our peers, how fast Westfield’s grown, how fast Whitestown’s grown. It’s like we’re seeing the growth, we know what’s happening here, starting to happen here, we’re trying to be proactive and be ready for that and be prepared for that.”
Gentry would also like the new building to have a more welcoming front office with community rooms that can host neighborhood watch trainings and nonprofit meetings.
Police Chief Chad Morgan told IBJ he believes that renovations and fixes to the building over the years have been “just a band-aid.”
“It wasn’t supposed to go this far for this long,” Morgan said. “They did a little renovation then, slapped some paint up and this and that, but now all of that stuff’s wearing off. And do you sink more money into something that’s falling apart?”
Problems with the current building include a lack of storage. Case reports are stored on the ceiling of the station’s armory, and officers have to use a ladder to get to them. The room dedicated to storing evidence wasn’t intended for that and has required better ventilation. The building has been so dusty it has caused officers’ eyes to burn, and at least one room had mold that has since been remediated, Morgan said.
The building wasn’t designed to be a police station, Gentry said.
“A purpose-built police station is very different. It frankly will allow them to be more efficient and better at their jobs,” Gentry said.
Morgan would like a new station to have private rooms where police officers can take reports. That way people don’t have to report crimes in front of others “on potentially the worst day of their life and spill their guts.”
Gentry added that he believes the current building affects police officer recruitment when prospective officers compare Lebanon’s outdated station to a semi-modern station.
Gentry said in his social media post that the city initially planned to introduce the ballot question during city elections in 2027. But a change in state law means municipalities can only hold capital referendums in even-numbered years. If the city waited until the fall 2028 election, Gentry said, the police station wouldn’t open until at least 2030. A new facility is needed as soon as possible, he said.
If the referendum is passed this November, Gentry believes designs will be finalized over the winter, and the project will break ground in late spring 2027 with estimated completion by fall 2028.
“Because this is a major public investment, I believe the community should have the final say,” he wrote. “This is the largest project our city has ever proposed, and it deserves total transparency.”
He invited residents to tour the police station over the next few months and “ask us the hard questions.”
Already the City Council has held the two public hearings and passed a resolution required to advance the referendum.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.