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FRANKLIN — The question I began asking in 2002 was this: Do we need township government?
Thus far, it is an answer that no one has adequately addressed, though the Kernan-Shepard Commission recommended their demise.
There are, of course, suspicions that the township system is riddled with inefficiencies, corruption and a lack of accountability. The last several weeks have added to the raft of anecdotal evidence that there are widespread problems.
Let's deal with the big one that came out earlier this month when reporter Eric Bradner of the Evansville Courier & Press revealed that the surpluses of the 1,006 townships rose from $215 million in 2008 to $263 million after the latest State Board of Accounts report. This increase comes after the Great Recession of 2009-10 when one would have expected a sizable increase in poor relief in a state where the jobless rate has hovered around 10 percent in that time span.
This comes as the state, cities and counties are staring at dramatic revenue declines. Either the townships aren't helping that many poor, or they are simply taxing and hoarding too much. Then there are more incidents of bad behavior.
The former Knight Township trustee in Vanderburgh County, Linda Durham, was arrested for theft and official misconduct after it was determined she spent taxpayer dollars on concert tickets and utility bills, according to the Courier & Press. In neighboring Warrick County, Boon Township Trustee Richard Pryor was arrested on a drug charge after a traffic stop, but the Courier & Press reported that the Indiana State Police are investigating unauthorized reimbursements of $69,000 uncovered by an SBA audit.
Last week, the Jefferson Township Trustee in Brown County, Angela Jones, was asked by her advisory board to show her books for the first time in 20 years. Two decades! The inquiry revealed that she had built a shelter on her property, ostensibly for township fire department fundraisers, though the fire department didn't even know it existed. This township, with less than 4,000 population, had a $781,000 surplus in 2008.
In Washington Township in Indianapolis, Trustee Frank Short spent $20,000 to deny a $700 poor relief request.
When township reform came up during the 2009 Indiana General Assembly, proponents for their demise stood in the Senate and revealed the mismanagement and corruption, but provided no metrics as to how widespread the problems were. This came as we learned of dozens of cases of theft, lack of phone numbers or signage at township offices, nepotism and other irregularities.
Center Township in Indianapolis spent more money on its own utility bills than what was spent helping the poor with their bills. Most of Marion County's townships failed to meet even basic state required financial reporting. The House African-American caucus was silent. Why? Are their political foot soldiers more important than an equitable safety net for the poor and a good deal for the taxpayer?
In 2010, House Ways & Means Chairman Bill Crawford offered up a bill requiring referendums on whether individual townships should exist. Had that ruse passed, it would have created a bizarre patchwork of government.
Since I began asking whether townships should exist, I have retreated from the notion that we should wipe out the entire layer. Like cities, I believe a 21st Century Indiana should have classes of counties. In some counties, it might make more sense to have poor relief handled in the township by a trustee annually accountable to the county council.
So my thinking has evolved to this: Abolish the urban townships that already have city and county layers of government. Keep the rural townships in "second- or third-class counties" (first-class counties would be mostly urban; second-class would be suburban; third-class rural) for poor relief, but, as Kernan-Shepard recommends, bring them into a county alliance for public safety. Abolish the township advisory boards — whose members are paid to attend four meetings a year — and make the trustee accountable to county councils.
Here's another observation: Gov. Daniels made a big mistake in not having township or county representation on the Kernan-Shepard Commission. It just left him and reform proponents open to the whole "power grab" argument.
In rural Indiana, you get nowhere when there's the perception that Big Brother is trying to ram something down your throat from Indianapolis. There has to be a buy-in from the locals who still embrace the Jacksonian principles that were there when many Indiana counties were created.
In the case of the township system, not only has there been no buy-in, but just about every player in the mix — be it the reformers or the stasists — have done a poor job in making the case for reform or maintaining the status quo.
Here’s a final thought: Where is the Tea Party in all of this? I hope they are taking notes.
The columnist publishes at www.howeypolitics.com
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