Two similar ranch homes a few streets apart in greater Ellettsville could carry the same list price this fall and still owe different property tax rates come 2027. Nothing about the yard or the floor plan explains why. The difference runs through a boundary that shows up on a parcel map and nowhere else, and it is about to matter more than it ever has.
On November 3, 2026, voters across the Town of Ellettsville and Richland Township will decide whether to merge their two governments into a single new entity. Council member William Ellis has called it a once in a lifetime opportunity for Monroe County. Town Council President Scott Oldham has been careful to note it is not an annexation but a reorganization, one that would create an entirely new government, and Ellis has said he hopes it keeps the Ellettsville name even though technically it wouldn't have to. If voters in both jurisdictions approve it, the change takes effect January 1, 2027.
That single sentence is the part a portal listing will never show you, and it is the reason anyone shopping seriously in Ellettsville right now needs to know exactly which side of the township line a specific address sits on before writing an offer.
Why this vote exists at all
The merger idea did not start locally. Town Manager Mike Farmer has said the push came from the state level, tied to Senate Enrolled Act 1, which eliminates the certified share of local income tax that townships have relied on starting in 2028, alongside a broader statehouse conversation about eliminating township government altogether. Richland Township was slated to receive $470,163 in certified shares of local income tax for 2025 alone. Facing that kind of funding cliff, town and township leaders decided to control their own reorganization rather than wait for the legislature to decide it for them. Town officials have also pointed to a second motive: avoiding Monroe County's more stringent zoning codes by keeping planning authority local, which matters directly to anyone watching new subdivisions rise along State Road 46.
The town is modeling its approach on the 2024 consolidation of the Town of Sheridan and Adams Township, which passed with 73 percent voter support. That precedent is part of why officials expect this measure has a real shot, though nothing is decided until the ballots are counted.
The number that isn't one number
In late May 2026, the Ellettsville Town Council and Richland Township Board jointly approved a fiscal impact analysis prepared by Baker Tilly Advisory Group. The headline finding is not a single townwide tax figure. It is three different figures, because the reorganization would fold together three separate taxing districts that currently sit under the "Ellettsville area" umbrella most buyers treat as one market.
| Where the parcel sits today | Projected property tax rate change if the merger passes |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated Richland Township | +6.9% |
| Ellettsville, the portion inside Richland Township | +4.1% |
| Ellettsville, the portion inside Bean Blossom Township | +3.5% |
Baker Tilly's own presentation included an important caveat. Indiana's circuit breaker credits, the constitutional caps that limit how much a property tax bill can rise relative to assessed value, mean a rate increase on paper does not automatically become a bill increase for every homeowner. The size of the effect depends on where a specific parcel's assessed value sits relative to its cap, not just which district it's in.
That is precisely why this is not a story you can average out. A buyer comparing a resale in one subdivision against new construction two roads over could be looking at meaningfully different long-run carrying costs, and the difference has nothing to do with the house itself.
Why the line is easy to miss on the ground
Richland Township covers roughly 35 square miles and had an estimated population over 15,000 as of the 2023 American Community Survey. The Town of Ellettsville itself spans about 3.5 square miles with a population just under 7,000. If the merger passes, the new entity would more than double Ellettsville's current population and cover close to 40 square miles. That much unincorporated land sits right up against the town's own boundary, and the boundary itself does not run along one township line. Part of Ellettsville falls inside Richland Township. A separate slice falls inside Bean Blossom Township. Those two slices got different numbers in the Baker Tilly model for a reason: they are, for tax purposes, different places today, and the merger treats them differently even after it takes effect.
This is exactly the kind of detail that matters on newer subdivisions at the edges of town, where a development that looks and feels like a single neighborhood from the street can straddle a taxing line that predates any of the houses on it. A home in a subdivision like Prominence Place off Upland Court, or a new build in the Harman Farms subdivision along State Road 46, is close enough to town center that a buyer would reasonably assume it is inside Ellettsville proper. Whether it is, and which taxing district applies, is a parcel-level question, not a neighborhood-level one.
There is a second layer worth knowing if you are comparing Ellettsville against nearby unincorporated land. A separate annexation dispute involving the City of Bloomington is still working through the courts, and depending on how that case resolves, some currently unincorporated parcels could end up voting to join the new Ellettsville entity as well. That is one more reason a parcel's current status is not necessarily its future status, and why "check today's taxing district" is only half the homework.
What to actually do before you write an offer
If you are shopping in or near Ellettsville over the next few months, treat this the way you would treat any other carrying cost that doesn't show up in a listing description.
- Ask which of the three taxing districts a specific address sits in today, not which one the neighborhood is generally known for.
- Confirm that with a parcel lookup rather than relying on the mailing address or ZIP code, since some listings marketed as Ellettsville are technically outside the current town limits.
- If you're closing between now and the referendum, ask your title company whether the parcel would fall under one of the three Baker Tilly categories if the merger passes, so you have the projected range rather than just the current bill.
- Build a five year holding cost estimate around the range, not the headline number, since circuit breaker credits mean the actual bill increase for your specific assessed value could land anywhere inside or below that range.
- If you're weighing new construction near the edges of town, ask the builder or listing agent directly whether the platted subdivision crosses a township line, since some do.
None of this changes whether Ellettsville is the right fit for your household. It changes whether you know what you're actually buying into before you sign.
A few questions worth asking directly
If I close before November 3, does any of this apply to me? The referendum still needs voter approval, and even if it passes, the change doesn't take effect until January 1, 2027. Anyone closing before then keeps the current rate through at least this cycle. The parcel's likely future trajectory is still worth knowing before you buy rather than after.
Does this affect buyers looking in Bloomington proper? No. This referendum only reaches Ellettsville and Richland Township. It does not change tax rates inside the City of Bloomington. It matters most to buyers actively weighing Ellettsville against city living, since the calculus on the Ellettsville side just got more specific.
What is a circuit breaker credit, in plain terms? It's Indiana's cap on how much a property tax bill can rise as a share of a home's assessed value. It's the reason a district-wide rate increase does not translate into an identical bill increase for every homeowner in that district. Your specific number depends on your assessed value, not just your address.
Ellettsville is still going to be a smaller, quieter alternative to city living for the buyers who want that. What's changed is that the town itself is mid-restructuring, and the smart move right now is knowing which version of Ellettsville a specific parcel is buying into before the vote, not after. If you want a parcel-level answer instead of a townwide guess, that is exactly the kind of homework Amanda Sells Indiana runs before any offer goes in. Schedule a free consultation and we'll check the district together.
