Fairfield Township board rejects Trustee Taletha Coles' proposed 2023 budget

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Fairfield Township Board unanimously rejected embattled Trustee Taletha Coles' proposed 2023 budget during a brief meeting Tuesday morning.

“If the budget is not adopted, what happens is, the prior year budget and levy will carry forward to the ensuing year,” said Benjamin Roeger, the certified public accounting working with Coles.

Coles proposed budget reduced the tax levy by 97% and relied on cash reserves to fund the General Fund in 2023.

Board member Monica Casanova asked how reducing the tax levy might impact the township's distribution from the local income tax.

“Essentially, the levy determines your (local income tax) distribution,” Roeger said. “There’s a year delay. It’s going to affect the 2024 distribution.”

GoFundMe removed:Fairfield Township trustee's crowd-funding account removed

In 2022, the township received about $140,000 from the local income tax distribution and will receive the same amount next year. Coles' proposed budget would have significantly reduced that distribution in 2024.

If the board adopted Coles' proposed budget, it would have lost roughly $45,000 a year in local income tax revenue, Roeger estimated.

Coles has not worked with the board since taking office in 2019.

The board adopted her proposed 2020 budget, not knowing how she allegedly misused taxpayer funds, including buying a pickup truck and two trailers on Dec. 31, 2019.

The board made significant alterations to Coles' proposed 2021 budget, and she chose not to submit the budget. This meant that she operated the township in 2021 on the 2020 budget.

For the 2022 budget, the board altered the budget, reducing the rainy day fund to zero, and significantly cutting appropriations that the board suspected Coles of misusing.

This marks the third consecutive year that Coles could not reach an agreement with the board over an annual spending plan.

Former employees reported Coles' misuse of taxpayer money to the Indiana State Police and the Indiana State Board of Accounts.

Indiana State Police said last week they have completed their investigation and turned over their case to the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's office.

In an investigation of the Wabash Township trustee in 2021, the prosecutors' office empaneled a grand jury to review the evidence and determine if charges are merited. In that case, the grand jurors charged the Wabash Township trustee with 21 counts of theft.

That trustee, Jennifer Teising, was convicted in January and is appealing her conviction and sentence.

Coles has not been charged, and since grand juries are secretive, the Journal & Courier does not know with certainty if a grand jury is hearing the allegations against Coles.

However, on Saturday afternoon, Coles opened a GoFundMe account to raise money for an attorney stating,

"It's been a political coo (sic) that I thought would go away due to it being so childish I thought people would see though all the BS but it's only gotten worse and now I'm fighting for my freedom and life," Coles stated in her narrative on the crowd-funding account.

The account was pulled just before noon on Monday.

A former employee posted on social media encouraging people to report the site to GoFundMe.

More:Fairfield Township trustee's crowd-funding account removed

Asked after the meeting whether she removed the account from GoFundMe or if the site's owner removed it, Coles ignored the question.

Board President Perry Schnarr asked Coles about the GoFundM account during the meeting.

“I’m not going to answer. It’s personal,” Coles replied to Schnarr, who pushed for an answer.

“I said it’s personal,” Coles snapped at Schnarr.

Coles lost her bid for re-election in May when Casanova defeated her for the Democratic spot on the ballot.

The board in July approved a resolution to remove Coles using a newly adopted law to remove rogue trustees.

More:Retired Supreme Court justice will hear case against Trustee Coles

The Tippecanoe County Commissioners and County Council adopted a similar resolution to remove Coles.

She has a Oct. 19 hearing in Tippecanoe Circuit Court, where a judge will decide whether to remove Coles from office before the end of her term, which ends Dec. 31.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Township board rejects Trustee Taletha Coles' proposed 2023 budget