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NASHVILLE, Ind. — Do we really need township government? It was a question I began asking in 2002. Last weekend, State Sen. Lindel Hume, D-Princeton, told the Evansville Courier & Press, "Don't get rid of the entire system that's functioning extremely well throughout the state." Functioning extremely well? Let's look at the available metrics.
1. According to an analysis by the Indianapolis Star, Indiana Townships have reserves of $208 million or 52 percent of all operating costs. This includes $50 million in unspent money for poor relief.
2. A sampling of 224 townships statewide by the Indianapolis Star revealed average administrative costs of 74 cents for every dollar given in direct aid. In Marion County's Center Township, it costs $1.69 to administer every dollar. Former State Rep. Joe Micon, a Lafayette Democrat who has a long career in social services, estimates it at 49 cents on the dollar for Indiana's 1,008 townships. In comparison, the Indiana Family Social Services Administration spends 7 cents to distribute every dollar.
3. In 2007 according to www.MySmartgov.org, Indiana had more than 6.3 million people. There were 301,497 requests for emergency poor relief and 79,292 were helped. They estimate that if each request came from a separate person, that means 4.8 percent of the population requested help but only 1.26 percent received it. Eighty percent of Indiana townships serve fewer than 20 families per year, according to former Gov. Joe Kernan, and 74 townships gave no poor relief at all.
4. Eighty-nine of the 224 townships the Indianapolis Star studied didn't file accounting records for aid to the poor as required by state law. There were no consequences.
5. In the 2006 election, MySmartgov.org says only 35 percent of voters stuck with the ballot long enough to vote in township races; 64 percent of the township board races and 76 percent of the trustees were unopposed.
6. According to the Montgomery County League of Women Voters in Crawfordsville, only four of the 11 townships were listed in local phone books and only two had signs in front of their offices.
7. A study released in late January by Profs. Michael Hicks and Dagney Faulk of Ball State’s Center for Business and Economic Research estimates that three-quarters of Hoosiers live in communities with impending budget problems. Their research shows that if all the Kernan-Shepard reform recommendations were passed, Hoosier taxpayers could save between $350 million and $400 million in urban areas and $200 million in rural areas.
Hicks and Faulk write, "Our estimates suggest realizable savings that could range from $400 million to $622 million per year." That includes $74 million in consolidation of fire protection services and $52 million in administration. Hicks told the Senate Local Government Committee earlier this month, "We think the savings could be two or three times larger. That translates to about $150 per family per year just by consolidating practices."
In Senate testimony on Feb. 11, Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar noted that townships are "rife with mistakes, neglect, sloppiness and criminal behavior." (Brinegar is also chairman of MySmartgov.org’s executive committee.) Asked to quantify with statistics, Mary Dieter at MySmartgov.org told me that she sifted through 4,300 pages of State Board of Accounts audits over the past two years and then made notations of the first 500 pages resulting in "two full sheets of different kinds of violations" ranging from embezzlement to failure to report.
"That's part of the issue," Dieter said. "It is so difficult to find these statistics. When they do file, it's so messed up that it's hard to quantify. It's a totally unaccountable system."
To read a jaw-dropping summary of the first 500 pages of township violations the SBA documented go to www.howeypolitics.com. The sheer volume of infractions — almost 40 — is stunning.
And then make a comparison with the legal and ethical infractions by Indiana's 117 mayors, 451 town managers, 560 municipal clerks, 276 county commissioners, 644 county council members, 819 city council members, or the 2,255 town board members. Out of those 5,122 elected or appointed public servants (compared to around 4,000 township officials), you will find only a handful of infractions.
Proponents of the Kernan-Shepard reforms need to boil down the other 3,800 pages of SBA audits to give taxpayers a credible, statistical comparison.
Here's the last statistic: Senate Bill 512 — a watered down version of the original bill that would have abolished townships — passed the Indiana Senate by a 28-22 vote. It keeps the township trustee, jettisons the three-man advisory board, and requires county councils to review and approve township budgets. It would outlaw nepotism.
Not a single Democrat supported the bill in what appears to be a caucus political decision. Now SB 512 goes to the Indiana House where Democrat Reps. Vernon Smith, Gary, chairs the Local Government Committee and John Bartlett, Indianapolis, chairs the House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee. House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer is coy on whether any of the Kernan-Shepard reform bills will even get a hearing, let alone a floor vote.
So here are some questions: Do Democrat donors, the party that supposedly looks out after the poor, approve of that $50 million in poor relief gathering dust? Or $200 million in reserves? Or the high cost of administration in cities that have the most poor? Should townships get a pass on accountability that cities and counties must adhere to?
Are Indiana Democrats against government reform, at a time when their own president has made a clarion call for change?
Howey is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at www.howeypolitics.com
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