Ask most people what "Indianapolis" means and they'll say Marion County — and since 1970, that's been mostly right. Unigov, the consolidation that took effect January 1, 1970, merged the City of Indianapolis with Marion County government into a single consolidated city. But four municipalities said no and kept their own governments: Speedway, Lawrence, Beech Grove, and Southport — the "excluded cities" (Speedway is technically a town, but the statute and everyone else lump it in). The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis has the history; this post covers what excluded-city status does to a property tax bill in 2026.
We've already written about Marion County's nine townships — and it's worth being precise that townships and excluded cities are different layers. Every Marion parcel is in exactly one township. Excluded cities sit inside townships: Speedway inside Wayne, Lawrence inside Lawrence Township, Beech Grove and Southport inside Perry. The township determines your assessor and (mostly) your school district; the excluded city determines whose civil city line appears on your bill — and that's the layer this post is about.
What Unigov consolidated, and what the four kept
Unigov merged the legislative and executive functions of city and county: one mayor, one City-County Council, consolidated departments for public works, planning, and parks across the county. But the consolidation deliberately left several things out — school districts were never merged, townships survived, and the four excluded municipalities retained their own:
- Civil government — Lawrence, Beech Grove, and Southport each elect their own mayor and city council; Speedway is governed by an elected town council.
- Police departments — all four run their own (alongside IMPD and the sheriff elsewhere in the county).
- Fire protection — the excluded cities maintained their own fire arrangements rather than joining the Indianapolis fire service district.
- Parks, streets, and local public works — local maintenance, local budgets.
- Schools, in two cases — Speedway Schools and Beech Grove City Schools are independent districts; Lawrence is served by MSD Lawrence Township and Southport by Perry Township Schools.
Each of those retained functions is funded by a levy, and each levy becomes a line on the tax bills of the parcels inside that city's boundaries.
How it shows up on a tax bill
Every Indiana parcel sits in exactly one taxing district — a unique stack of overlapping units. Compare a balance-of-county Indianapolis parcel to an excluded-city parcel:
| Component | Indianapolis (balance of county) | Excluded city (e.g., Beech Grove) |
|---|---|---|
| Marion County | Yes | Yes |
| Civil city/town | City of Indianapolis (consolidated) | Beech Grove civil city |
| Township | Yes (one of nine) | Yes (Perry) |
| School corporation | One of 11 | Beech Grove City Schools |
| Library | Indianapolis Public Library | Varies by district |
| Health & Hospital (HHC) | Yes | Yes (countywide) |
| Special service districts | IPD/IFD-successor districts where applicable | Not applicable — own police/fire |
The key swap is the second row: an excluded-city parcel pays its own city's levy instead of the consolidated city's rate, and it doesn't pay into the Indianapolis police and fire special service districts because it funds its own departments. Countywide units — the county itself, HHC, transit — apply everywhere regardless.
Whether that swap makes the composite rate higher or lower depends on the city. A small municipality funding a full-service police and fire operation from a compact tax base can run a relatively expensive civil-city levy; on the other hand, it escapes the consolidated city's debt and service-district loads. There is no universal "excluded cities are cheaper" rule — it's district by district.
What the 2026 numbers show
The DLGF's 2026 Certified Tax Rates by District report (prepared February 26, 2026) gives the exact certified gross rates, and they show how wide the spread actually is:
- Beech Grove: $4.1986–$4.2369 per $100 net AV across its four township slices — the highest certified districts in Marion County, roughly $1.51 above the Indianapolis–Center Township district ($2.7291). Beech Grove's small independent school district plus a full-service civil-city levy stack to the county's high-water mark.
- Town of Speedway (Wayne Township): $3.1302 — about 42 cents above the Indianapolis–Wayne district ($2.7096), but well below Wayne Township's "outside" district ($3.6418). Speedway's independent school district and town levy land it in the middle of Wayne Township's spread.
- City of Southport (Perry Township): $2.8330 — modestly above Indianapolis–Perry ($2.6923).
- City of Lawrence: $2.6094 — actually below the Indianapolis–Lawrence Township district ($2.6927). Excluded-city status does not automatically mean a higher rate.
The city of Lawrence and unincorporated Lawrence Township ($2.4530) are separate taxing districts with different rates, which is why the township post flagged Lawrence's "dual-rate situations within a small geographic area." We walk through all of these certified rates, including worked bill examples, in the included-cities rate comparison.
Note
These composites are illustrative aggregates. Excluded-city boundaries do not follow neat lines — a "Lawrence" mailing address can sit in unincorporated Lawrence Township, and Speedway's town limits don't match its zip code. The DLGF certifies the exact rate for every taxing district; always verify the actual district for a specific parcel rather than assuming from the address.
Why the school district is doing most of the work
The school levy is the largest single component of any Marion County rate, so an excluded city with its own school district (Speedway, Beech Grove) diverges from its township far more than one without (Lawrence, Southport). The certified report makes the school effect visible directly: districts 320 and 520 — parcels inside the Beech Grove school district but outside the city — carry rates of $3.2622 and $3.6141, above every Indianapolis township district even without the civil-city levy. That cuts both ways for owners:
- Speedway pays a mid-pack composite for a small, well-regarded school district — a combination that supports values in a way the rate alone doesn't capture.
- Beech Grove pays the county's premium composite for its independent schools and full-service city government.
- Lawrence and Southport parcels differ from their township neighbors mainly by the civil-city levy itself, a smaller swing.
And remember the cap inversion from the certified-rates post: for homesteads near the 1% cap, composite-rate differences get absorbed by the circuit breaker — two cap-bound houses pay 1% of gross AV regardless of district. The excluded-city rate spread matters most for non-cap-bound homesteads, rentals (2% cap), and commercial property (3% cap), where the rate actually determines the bill.
What it means for buyers comparing addresses
If you're shopping across the county line — say, comparing a house in Speedway against one a half-mile east in balance-of-Wayne, or Beech Grove against southside Indianapolis — do this:
- Identify the actual taxing district, not the mailing address. Pull the parcel through Property Lookup; every Marion County record includes the township and district.
- Compare composite rates, then apply the cap test. Compute gross AV × cap percentage and net AV × rate; the lower number is the bill. A rate difference that vanishes under the cap is not a real cost difference.
- Price the services, not just the rate. Excluded-city residents get their own police and fire response, local street maintenance, and (in Speedway and Beech Grove) a small school district. Some buyers pay a rate premium for that gladly; others would rather have the lower line.
- Check both school district and city boundaries — they don't always coincide, and a parcel can be inside the city but outside its school district's typical footprint, or vice versa.
Tip
For rental investors, the excluded-city question is purely a rate question — the 2% cap binds far less often than the homestead 1% cap, so a 25–30 cent composite spread flows almost dollar-for-dollar into your operating expenses. Underwrite the actual district rate, not a county average.
One more wrinkle: appeals work the same everywhere
Excluded-city status changes who taxes you, not who assesses you. A Speedway parcel is still assessed by the Wayne Township assessor; a Beech Grove parcel by Perry Township; appeals from all four cities are still filed with the Marion County Assessor on a Form 130 by June 15 and heard by the same county PTABOA. The Unigov layer is invisible to the appeal process.