DARMSTADT — In the small businesses and homes nestled in the scenic countryside of this small German heritage community just north of Evansville, suspicious minds have throttled debate about local government consolidation.
It is hard to find anyone who thinks more than 10 percent of voters in the town of roughly 1,400 will say yes to a November election day referendum on consolidating Evansville and Vanderburgh County governments.
Nourished by the same culture of self-determination and independence that spurred the move to become Vanderburgh County's only incorporated town four decades ago — and seasoned with "facts" supplied by consolidation opponents — certain notions about government merger have taken a firm hold here. Darmstadt, an otherwise sleepy town of just more than 500 homes, is a stone wall of opposition to consolidation.
"Basically, it's a hostile takeover. The city can't balance their books, and they're coming out to the county people and getting in their pockets, is what it amounts to," declared Steve Kahre, a lifelong Darmstadt resident and one of four Town Council members.
Ron Korff, whose Village Square Barber Shop is a nerve center of opposition to consolidation, said he doesn't mind paying taxes for what he owes — "but not more taxes for no more services."
Among the numerous signs and hats that dot the walls of Korff's popular shop is an anti-consolidation poster and tear-off order forms for anti-consolidation T-shirts.
Asked where he got his facts about consolidation, Korff said, "Just in talking to some of the people who have been studying it." He named Bruce Ungethiem, a Darmstadt resident and a leader of Citizens Opposed to Reorganization in Evansville.
The Town Council voted more than two years ago to remain an independent, incorporated town by not participating in a consolidated government.
But that is not nearly enough to quell the skepticism and cynicism about city officials' motives that runs rampant here. To begin with, Darmstadt residents would continue to pay countywide taxes and would be subject to some of a consolidated government's ordinances.
"We're not excluded in the least," Kahre said, virtually spitting out the words. "We're excluded to the fact that we're not consolidating our street and road department or our sewer department or any of our services with the county or the city. We're not combining any of them because we wanted to be our own little community.
"But the problem is that the folks in the Town of Darmstadt are still going to pay the increased county taxes."
Such assertions drive consolidation advocates batty. Pointing out that taxes also can rise in the current structure of two local governments, they argue that savings are inevitable with a single streamlined government — and savings offer a greater prospect of keeping taxes low.
The consolidation advocates also have cited what they call safeguards against budget-busting spending in a consolidated government, including state law's requirement for referendums on local spending of property taxes on some large projects.
But in so doing, the advocates made one assertion, since modified, that opponents exploited in an attempt to feed doubts about all of the pro-consolidation arguments.
"Approximately 80 percent of residential property owners have already hit the constitutional tax cap of 1 percent on the assessed value of their home," stated the website of pro-consolidation group, Yes! for Unification.
County Treasurer Rick Davis, an ardent opponent of consolidation, asked County Auditor Joe Gries whether 80 percent of residential property owners had hit the state's phased-in property tax cap of no more than 1 percent of a home's assessed value.
"For 2012 taxes we show that 6,686 parcels received property tax cap credit on properties that have a homestead (property tax deduction) and of those 6,485 of them fall inside the city limits," Gries replied in a June 11 email to Davis. "We believe we have 48,506 parcels that have a homestead, which means that only about 14 percent of homestead properties (have reached) the tax cap of 1 percent."
Davis pounced on the error, trumpeting it in public appearances.
Yes! for Unification changed the 80 percent designation to the phrase, "a substantial number," conceding it had been incorrect but arguing that the more important issue is the likelihood of overall savings and the resulting chance for lower taxes.
At the Darmstadt Inn, noted for its pizzas and beef manhattans, Jeff Salat singled out Davis as an influence on his thinking. Davis did run unsuccessfully for mayor of Evansville last year, Salat said.
Salat said city officials are just looking out for number one, "trying to raise more money for the city."
Looking ahead, Kahre wonders about Darmstadt's place in the pecking order of a consolidated government.
The town does its own street and road maintenance, including snow plowing and salt placement and grass mowing. It pays for the workers and for its own sewer system with the proceeds of two Darmstadt-only tax rates that fund certain town operational and capital development expenses. The town's general fund tax rate is projected to yield nearly $108,000 at most this year, while a separate Cumulative Capital Development Fund rate is projected to generate about $30,500 at most.
"Say we get an 18-inch snowfall. Where's all the (consolidated government's) snow plows going to be at?" Kahre said. "Darmstadt is going to be fine because we have our own street department, but how are we going to get out of Darmstadt? When it's all in one pot, our roads are going to go to pot because the snow plows are going to be down there in the city, where the population center is."
Like so many other Darmstadt residents, Kahre's thinking is colored by a fair amount of flat-out suspicion.
"Are we going to be double-taxed? Am I going to be collecting taxes from my taxpayers out there in Darmstadt to maintain our roads in Darmstadt, and are they also going to be taxed to maintain the roads in the county and the city of Evansville?" he demanded. "Nobody can tell me that."
Pressed to explain how that could happen, Kahre conceded that "double-taxing" for street and roadwork would be unlikely. But he still suspects a consolidated government would look to take liberties.
"There's going to be some of that going on," he said.