A public safety income tax would help Bartholomew County better fund its emergency operations center and balance the overall budget, but at a cost to taxpayers.

City, township and county officials heard a presentation on the tax hike from the Plainfield Clerk-Treasurer, Wes Bennett last week. Bennett said that for his community, the tax has simplified the funding for the emergency operations center. Instead of having to collect money from every taxing unit in the county, the tax covers the cost of operations of the dispatch center and frees up money in the budget of all of the other taxing units.

Ed Reuter, director of the Barhtolomew County center, said that he is working to put together a true picture of the total cost for operating the center. For example, the center draws on the county IT department and maintenance, but doesn’t pay for those services.

Barb Hackman, county auditor, estimated that the income tax would cost the earner of a median income in the county betweeen $54 and $136 a year, depending on the tax rate chosen. The tax could raise between $2 and $5 million for local public safety.

Only a minority of County Council members have said they are in favor of implementing such a tax. The County Council begins its budget hearings tomorrow.

Two people found dead in the back of a pickup truck near Camp Atterbury Saturday are believed to have been a murder-suicide.

Sheriff Doug Cox reports that a person deer watching near County Road 550S and Schoolhouse Road found the truck off the road with the two bodies in the back at about 7:12 a.m.

Authorities have identified the bodies as 36-year-old Jonie Snider and 48-year-old Gregory McCray, both of Franklin. Cox says that it appears McCray shot Snider, then himself. A gun was found at the scene.

A search of their home in Franklin also supported the murder-suicide conclusion, Cox said.

Autopsy results are still pending.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the deaths of two people, found this morning in the back of a pickup truck near Camp Atterbury.

Sheriff Doug Cox reports that a person deer watching near County Road 550S and Schoolhouse Road found the truck off the road with the two bodies in the back at about 7:12 a.m.

Cox said that authorities know the identities of the man and woman but their names are being withheld until their families can be notified. The pickup truck belonged to one of the victims.

The sheriff said there is no need for the public to be concerned and there is no search for a suspect.

Columbus firefighters say a Friday morning fire was caused by a child playing with a candle in a bathroom.

Firefighters were called to the 1200 block of Eighth Street at about 10:45 a.m. Friday on a report of a fire. They discovered a heavily charred bathroom door and counter along with a wastebasket and smoldering papers, which they fully extinguished with a water can.

Capt. Mike Wilson, spokesman for the fire department, said that an 8-year-old girl dropped a lit candle into the trash can, causing the fire.

Damages is estimated at $2,500. There were no injuries reported and the home did not have working smoke detectors, Wilson said.

Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb, this fall’s Republican candidate for governor, will be making two stops in Columbus on Saturday.

Barb Hackman, chairwoman of the Bartholomew County Republican Party says that you are invited to attend the events. Holcomb will be at the Upland Brewing Pump House, 148 Lindsey St., at 11 a.m. Saturday and at Joe Willy’s Burger Bar, 1034 Washington St., at 11:30 a.m.

Hackman says there will be T-shirts, signs and other campaign materials available for supporters.

Train traffic on a rail line between Louisville and Seymour will increase starting around Sept. 1.

The Courier-Journal reports that the current speed of trains on the line will increase incrementally over several weeks from a current maximum speed of 25 miles per hour to a speed limit of 49 miles per hour. In turn, the number of trains will increase from three or four trains per day, to around 10.

CSX Transportation officials say that the length of the trains may also increase.

CSX Transportation spokeswoman Laura Phelps reportedly stated that the federal Surface Transportation Board approved an agreement between the Louisville & Indiana Railroad and CSX in 2015 that gives CSX a permanent easement to operate over the railroad’s 106-mile corridor between Indianapolis and Louisville.