New Castle, Henry County Included in Indiana Gas-Tax Reimbursement

Indiana has approved the first reimbursement transfer intended to replace roadway revenue lost during the temporary gasoline-tax suspension, placing New Castle and Henry County within a statewide process designed to restore affected road and bridge funding.

The Indiana State Board of Finance voted unanimously on July 21, 2026, to approve reimbursement for revenue that would have been collected from April 8 through May 31. The covered period includes different suspension dates for the gasoline use tax and gasoline excise tax.

The approved transfer totals $121,159,722. The Indiana Comptroller‘s Office said $37,834,329.54 of that amount will go to local units of government through statutory roadway-funding structures.

Why New Castle and Henry County are included

New Castle Civil City’s 2026 budget order includes Local Road and Street and Motor Vehicle Highway funds. The same state budget document lists Highway and Local Road and Street funds for Henry County.

Those accounts help explain the local connection, but the approval does not establish a specific payment amount for New Castle or Henry County in this article. Exact local-unit allocations should be confirmed through the Comptroller’s reimbursement spreadsheet and then matched against local budget or council records.

How the reimbursement works

The July 21 State Board of Finance agenda identifies three transfers from the State Highway Fund: $78,602,772.02 to the Motor Vehicle Highway Account, $21,527,773.47 to the Highway, Road, and Street Fund, and $21,029,177.40 to the Local Road and Bridge Matching Fund.

The Comptroller’s Office says local-unit reimbursement amounts follow the same statutory Motor Vehicle Highway and Local Road and Street formulas used for regular monthly distributions. Regular MVH and LRS distributions are continuing on schedule, while these reimbursements are a separate process that follows Board of Finance approval.

For residents, the practical point is that Indiana is attempting to provide temporary fuel-tax relief without leaving local roadway accounts to absorb the full revenue loss. The reimbursement is not new discretionary money for unrelated city or county programs, and the available records do not show that local road projects in New Castle or Henry County were completed, accelerated or otherwise changed because of the payment.

What remains unsettled

Indiana’s gasoline use tax suspension runs from April 8 through August 6, 2026. The gasoline excise tax suspension runs from May 6 through August 6. The Indiana Department of Revenue says both taxes are collected at the distributor level rather than charged as separate retail-level taxes at the pump.

The July 21 action covered only the April 8-through-May 31 period, not the full suspension. Additional reimbursement requests are expected at future State Board of Finance meetings, and the Comptroller’s Office expects all reimbursements to be completed by November 1, pending further approvals.

The Comptroller’s July 21 release said the first payments would be issued immediately and reach local governments within two to three days. The reimbursement FAQ gives a general five-to-seven-business-day window. Local records and the Comptroller’s local-unit spreadsheet remain the clearest places to verify when New Castle and Henry County receive and account for the money.

Sources

• Indiana Comptroller: July 21 reimbursement approval