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The Personal Property Online Portal for Indiana (“PPOP-IN”) is now available to accept 2025 personal property tax filings. The PPOP-IN tax filing system allows taxpayers and their authorized agents to submit and review personal property tax filings in a single user-friendly web-based environment.

Taxpayers have until Wednesday, May 15, 2025, to file their business personal property filings either online at https://ppopin.in.gov or by the traditional paper forms.

What is PPOP-IN?

PPOP-IN is a 24/7, self-service online portal that allows taxpayers and authorized agents to file Forms 102, 103-Short, 103-Long, 103-N, 103-O, 104, and 106 online. Taxpayers also have the ability to upload additional personal property forms and any necessary supporting documentation.

All users that have previously submitted a personal property filing in a prior year, can now roll their past filing to use as a template for their 2025 filing. This feature will save taxpayers and agents time on their submission.

How can I stay up to date on PPOP-IN?

The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance will be sending out regular communications to various stakeholders over the next several months. We want you to stay informed of all the changes. All taxpayers and authorized agents may register for email updates by visiting the Department’s website.

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By Olivia Samona, Parker Public Affairs

Washington County Prosecutor Tara Coats Hunt is pleased to announce her recent appointment to the Communications and Public Relations Committee of the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA). The NDAA is the oldest and largest professional organization representing prosecutors across the country, working to advance justice and uphold public safety.

“I am honored and excited to join the NDAA Communications and PR Committee,” said Prosecutor Hunt. “This is an incredible opportunity to work alongside a talented and passionate group, and I’m looking forward to contributing to elevate the organization’s mission.”

As a member of the committee, Tara will assist in developing and executing communication strategies, working on public relations initiatives, and providing insights to further the NDAA’s impact. With her expertise, she is eager to bring fresh perspectives to the team and contribute to the continued success of the organization.

For more information about the NDAA and its initiatives, visit https://ndaa.org.

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The Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) and the Indiana State Soil Conservation Board SSCB) announced that 16 soil and water conservation districts and one organization were awarded over $1.3 million in Clean Water Indiana competitive grant funding. This funding will support water quality improvements across the state.

"This funding is critical for our local soil and water conservation districts to assist farmers with bettering their water quality initiatives," said Lt. Gov. Beckwith, Indiana's Secretary of Agriculture. "This program touches every corner of the state and the improvements made will go a long way in ensuring Indiana remains a leader in soil conservation."

The Clean Water Indiana program is administered by the state’s soil conservation board. The program, led by the ISDA, provides financial assistance to landowners and conservation groups that are working to reduce runoff from non-point sources of water pollution, whether it’s on agricultural land, urban areas or eroding streambanks.

Once received, districts can use the funds to partner with other counties or address specific needs within their jurisdiction. Some examples include participating in a cost-share program, hiring staff, providing technical assistance, implementing cover crop incentive programs or increasing watershed capacity.

Clean Water Indiana (CWI) is managed by ISDA’s Division of Soil Conservation and funded by a portion of the state's cigarette tax. Projects can be up to three years in length and grantees could apply for any dollar amount that was necessary to complete the project. In addition to CWI funds, each grantee is required to produce a match for their project, which can be cash or in-kind. Projects requesting staffing were required to have a 25% match for that component, while all other project areas required a 50% match. Many Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) will target producers not currently served by other conservation programs.

Below is the list of awardees, their project titles and overviews. $1,382,571 was awarded to 17 projects.

Washington County SWCD- $224,200
Crawford, Harrison, Jackson, and Washington counties will offer Clean Water Indiana funded cost-share opportunities to land users alongside educational opportunities and technical assistance protect soil health and water quality by reducing nutrient, sediment and pathogen runoff into surface & ground water.
This project provides financial and technical assistance for livestock, crop, and wildlife best management practices. Best management practices reduce sediment, nutrients and pathogens reaching waterways in runoff and limiting livestock access. Planting practices filter pollutants, increase biodiversity, decrease soil compaction, restore soil structure and provide continuous root systems which increase soil infiltration.

Delaware County SWCD - $3,000
This project will control invasive species in priority areas along the Cardinal Greenways.

Delaware County SWCD - $125,000
The funds will be used for staffing and support for the Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District to hire a Conservation Resource Technician.

Greene County SWCD - $15,500
The Greene County SWCD will utilize this funding to purchase a no-till drill to assist landowners in implementing increased soil health, water quality and soil water holding capacity on properties located in Greene County. Landowners can utilize the drill to plant cover crops, assist in establishing new pastures, inter-seeding for pasture improvement, plant native grass for prairie establishment and plantings for pollinator habitats.

Jefferson County SWCD- $130,000
The project will promote soil health on pasture and hay land and improve water quality. Conservation practices will be installed that help improve forage and biomass quality, reduce soil erosion and compaction, reduce excessive nutrients and sediments in surface and ground waters and improve inadequate feed, forage and water. The funds will also promote and incentivize the use of cover crops.

Jefferson County SWCD - $30,650
The project funds will be used to purchase the Jefferson County SWCD a no-till drill to assist landowners in improving the quality of their soil and water resources.

Jennings County SWCD- $50,000
The Jennings County SWCD and the Ripley County SWCD will provide cost-share to private landowners within Jennings and Ripley counties to start or continue cover crop, forage and biomass planting, and installation of heavy use area protection practices.

Kosciusko County SWCD- $52,721
This funding will allow the district to undertake a large-scale soil health focused education event across the next 3 years (2025-2027) in addition to providing free soil samples to local producers. Led by the county-funded Soil Health Specialist, these events are structured as interactive meetings. They are designed to provide a roadmap for collaborative exploration into soil health, the soil food web, ecological risk of pest management strategies, and developing long-term solutions for regenerative ag systems.

Madison County SWCD - $120,000
The grant funds will hire a full-time Urban Conservationist for a three-year time frame from Jan. 2025 through Dec. 2027 for the Madison County SWCD. This funding would provide the necessary means to empower Madison County SWCD to build district capacity and engage in conservation partnership efforts. Additionally, the funds will assist in developing an accountable case with empirical information and numbers to provide to the Madison County Council and Madison County Commissioners in an effort to obtain a permanent county funded full-time position.

Marion County SWCD- $100,000
The funds will leverage Marion County SWCD's federal Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant to further the reach of their soil health program to ensure Indiana conservation planners beyond Marion County have the training and tools necessary to assist small farm practice implementation. These and other future training will help market Indiana's unique conservation tools nationally, and are striving to enter into a future multi-year agreement with NRCS to provide long term sustainability for the program beyond the timeframe of the proposed CWI grant
CWI 2025, paired with SARE, will allow the SWCD to deliver a high-quality program that addresses the needs of the district in delivering assistance to urban and small farms.

Morgan County SWCD - $60,000
Morgan County SWCD will utilize the funds to purchase a new seed drill. The funds will also be used to promote the use of the drill through a cost-share program, “Seeding for Soil Health”, for cover crops and native habitats that would benefit soil health and water quality in Morgan County.

Orange County SWCD - $125,000
The Clean Water Indiana funds will be used for cost-share program to increase conservation efforts and improve local water quality and soil health. The project, "Cultivating Clean Water, One Practice at a Time”, will allow and encourage local producers to expand on soil health and decrease nonpoint source pollutants entering waterways by reducing livestock run-off, stabilizing high-traffic livestock areas and increasing living cover within the project area.

Posey County SWCD- $84,000
Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick and Gibson Counties will continue to work together to encourage producers to plant cover crops addressing our local concerns of soil health and water quality. The partnering districts will add 4000 acres of cover crops. Special emphasis will be placed on education, highly erodible land (HEL), and farmers new to our cost-share program. The district cash-match will pay $5/acre to farmers new to our program, $5/acre for diversified seed mixes of three plus, incentives for planting green by offering an additional $5/acre and up to $250 for perches or nesting boxes for raptors to assist with rodent control.

Spencer County SWCD - $20,000
This project aims to reduce sediment and nutrient runoff in the pastures of Spencer County through promoting exclusionary livestock fencing for water quality, and prescribed grazing and rotational grazing for soil health and other pasture best management practices like cover crops.

The Nature Conservancy- $82,500
Announced by ISDA on Jan. 2, 2025, this project will incentivize farmers to utilize cover crops by reducing crop insurance premiums on 35,000 acres across 50 counties. The project will provide eligible participants with a $5/acre premium discount on the following year's crop insurance invoice for every acre of cover crop enrolled and verified in the program.

Wayne County SWCD - $75,000
The Wayne County SWCD will educate on the numerous soil health benefits of planting cover crops and the need for healthy, abundant pollinators by establishing pollinator habitats. The goal of the program, "Cover It, Wayne County", is to establish at least 20 new acres of pollinator plantings and an anticipated 2,300 acres in cover crops.

Wells County SWCD - $85,000
Wells and Huntington County SWCDs are partnering on a cost-share program for managing and removing invasive species and for seeding cover crops. The program will be open to private landowners, city, county and community parks. The goal of the program is to help educate citizens in the need to manage invasive species.

ABOUT ISDA
The Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) reports to Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith, Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. Major responsibilities include advocacy for Indiana agriculture at the local, state and federal level, managing soil conservation programs, promoting economic development and agricultural innovation, serving as a regulatory ombudsman for agricultural businesses, and licensing grain firms throughout the state.

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Response to

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

(19 February 2025)

LATEST DETECTION

County & Flock #: Washington 02
Flock Size: 19,388
Type of Operation: Commercial Turkey
Status: Quarantined
10km Control Area: Active (Portions of Washington and Scott counties in Indiana)
20km Surveillance Zone: Active (Portions of Washington, Clark, Jackson, and Scott counties in Indiana)

STATEWIDE SUMMARY

For details, including updated data and total premises affected since the ongoing incident began in 2022, visit the HPAI dashboard on BOAH's website.

BACKGROUND

The H5N1 influenza virus has continued to be active throughout parts of the United States. HPAI has been identified on more than 1300 premises in all 50 states since February 2022. Wild birds infected with HPAI have been found from coast to coast in various species, including waterfowl (ducks, swans, geese, gulls, etc.), raptors (hawks and eagles), as well as other common species (American robin, common raven, wild turkey). Many other mammalian species, including humans, dairy cattle and wildlife, have also been diagnosed with the virus.
The current, ongoing HPAI event is the United States’ largest animal health emergency in history.

RESPONSE

As part of existing avian influenza response plans, federal and state partners are working jointly on additional surveillance and testing in areas around the affected flocks. The United States has the strongest avian influenza surveillance program in the world, and USDA is actively working with its partners to look for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets and in migratory wild bird populations.

NON-COMMERCIAL FLOCK SURVEILLANCE: Testing of nearby flocks is important to verify the virus has not spread in the area. BOAH staff will be reaching out to flock owners within the surveillance zone to offer testing.

WILD BIRD SURVEILLANCE: USDA Wildlife Services and Indiana Department of Natural Resources are assisting with surveillance of wild birds in and near the control areas. Detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds can be found online HERE.

DAIRY FARM SURVEILLANCE: Lactating dairy cattle must have a negative test before interstate movement under a federal order. USDA has expanded surveillance through testing milk at the farm or processor level to establish the health status of herds, as well as states.

PUBLIC ADVISORIES

Food Safety
Avian influenza does not present a food safety risk; cooked poultry and eggs and pasteurized dairy products are safe to eat.

Animal Health
Hobby poultry owners are encouraged to be aware of the signs of avian influenza and report illness and/or death to the USDA Healthy Birds Hotline: 866-536-7593.Callers will be routed to a state or federal veterinarian in Indiana for a case assessment. Dead birds should be double-bagged and refrigerated for possible testing.

Signs include: sudden death without clinical signs; lack of energy or appetite; decreased egg production; soft-shelled or misshapen eggs; swelling or purple discoloration of head, eyelids, comb, hocks; nasal discharge; coughing; sneezing; lack of coordination; and diarrhea. A great resource for backyard bird health information is online at:www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-disease-information/avian/defend-the-flock-program/dtf-resources/dtf-resources .

Situation updates and status reports about ongoing avian influenza activities, along with critical disease-related information, will be posted online at:  https://www.in.gov/boah/species-information/avianbirds/highly-pathogenic-avian-influenza/. Users may subscribe to email and/or text updates on a subscribe link at that page.

Wild Bird Health
More information about avian influenza and wild birds: https://www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/wildlife-resources/wildlife-diseases-in-indiana/avian-flu-bird-flu/

Human Health
Recent detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza A H5N1 viruses (H5N1 bird flu) in wild birds and poultry pose a low risk to the health of the general public. Human infections are most likely to be rare and happen in people with recreational or occupational exposures involving prolonged, unprotected close contact with infected birds or contaminated environments. The Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) and local health departments (LHD) monitor people who have been exposed to test-positive animals for signs of influenza-like illness. To date, none have had evidence of infection or illness associated with AI virus.

IDOH offers the following guidance documents for poultry growers and emergency responders to protect their health:

Indiana Department of Health Avian Flu Producer Information

Mental Health
Community members who are affected by this animal health emergency should be aware of the possible impact on their mental health and to seek assistance if needed. Available resources include:

Be Well Indiana: Feeling overwhelmed, stressed, anxious or alone? Call this free, confidential resource available 24/7 to anyone in the state of Indiana.

Call 2-1-1 and enter your ZIP code.
Follow the prompts and select number 3 for the Be Well Crisis Helpline.

Farm Aid: This organization connects farmers with helpful services, resources and opportunities specific to their individual needs. Call the Farmer Hotline for immediate assistance Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM Eastern time.

Call 1-800-FARM-AID (1-800-327-6243).

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, as well as prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones.

Dial 9-8-8 or call 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).

ABOUT INDIANA POULTRY PRODUCTION

Indiana is a leading producer of poultry, eggs and poultry products. Nationally, Indiana ranks number 1 in production of ducks, third in eggs, third in turkey production, and is a significant producer of broilers.

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Important Note:
Details disclosed here will be updated on BOAH’s website after test results are confirmed at the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory. This policy will keep BOAH’s website consistent with USDA’s reporting and avoid impacting international trade.

Ongoing/Latest Updates:
Updates are available online at: https://www.in.gov/boah/species-information/avianbirds/highly-pathogenic-avian-influenza/ Visit that webpage to subscribe for updates delivered via text and/or email by clicking the red subscribe icon at the top.

Media-Only Contact:
Denise Derrer Spears, Indiana State Board of Animal Health Public Information Director

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone: 317-544-2414

Questions or comments? Contact BOAH at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." data-linkto="mailto:">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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By Becky Killian, Staff Writer

The waterline replacement project along South Main will continue with most of the cost being covered by a grant.

The announcement was made during the Monday, Feb. 10, meeting of the Salem Board of Public Works and Safety and Common Council.

The hardship grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation will cover most of the cost to replace waterlines from the south gate of the square to the bridge over the West Fork Blue River.

The Board of Works approved the low bid of $943,454 from Temple and Temple for the project.

The city will pay 10 percent of the cost with existing funds from its operating budget.

“I think we all agree that investment in our infrastructure is key,” Mayor Justin Green said.

The first phase of the project saw the replacement of waterlines from the traffic light at State Road 56 to the south gate of the square. That project was paid with federal funds.

In other business:

• E&K Lawncare was approved as the low bidder for mowing as well as debris and vegetation removal for both city-owned properties as well as properties in violation of city code. The contractor will be paid $1,095 weekly to mow city owned properties such as around the water plants at Lake Salinda and Lake John Hay. The maintenance of properties in violation of city code will be $80 for mowing a lot and hourly fees for larger lots or those containing debris that must be removed.

• Mosier Family Chiropractic requested the closure of the portion of Market Street between the addresses of 301 and 304 beginning at 4 p.m. for their annual Brick Street Festival, which will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 7. About 20 vendors are expected, including food trucks.

• Blevins Sanitation requested a two-year contract extension for the city’s waste removal. The contract, which was set to expire in September 2026, will now continue to September 2028. The contract extension was approved by the Board of Works.