CUMBERLAND — The Town of Cumberland is seeking to break ties with Unigov, the consolidated city-county government that merged Indianapolis and Marion County back in 1970.
Town manager Ben Lipps said the move would result in a more equitable distribution of services to residents throughout the town.
Unigov was established 55 years ago by then-mayor Richard Lugar to implement a unified vision for the metropolitan Indianapolis region, with a focus on fostering economic development and a sustainable tax base.
But Lipps said a lot has changed since then.
Back then towns with 5,000 or more residents could opt out of Unigov, but Cumberland had just 500 residents at the time.
Now it has more than 6,500, and is planning to accommodate another 3,000 people in the coming years.
Due to that explosive growth, Lipps said, the town is more than ready to stand on its own.
With that growth comes a growing need for services, which he said can be handled better locally without making Marion County residents venture to Indianapolis for every building permit or code complaint.
When a local lobbyist, Mark Flint, asked Indiana Rep. Doug Miller (R-Elkhart) how the town could proceed with leaving Unigov, Miller offered to write the bill proposing the move, even though he’s from Elkhart County.
Miller authored House Bill 1131 in November to initiate the transition.
The bill calls for the Town of Cumberland to no longer be a consolidated part of Indianapolis as of Jan. 1, 2027, after the legislative bodies of Cumberland, Indianapolis and Marion County take the necessary steps for the change.
Lipps said he doesn’t think it will take that long to complete the transition. On Jan. 27 he presented the bill to the Hancock County Commissioners, who gave their unanimous stamp of approval.
On Jan. 8 the House Local Government Committee approved the bill and forwarded it to the House Ways and Means Committee, which was expected to vote on the bill Friday afternoon.
House press secretary Matthew Gocken said the bill had not yet been heard by presstime.
If passed, the bill will return to the House floor to be passed on second and third readings before being passed on to the Senate for approval.
“If it passes in the Senate, it goes to the governor’s desk to be signed,” Lipps said.
Long time coming
Lipps said local residents have expressed a desire to break from Unigov for the past two decades.
“I’ve worked for the town for 18 years and I’ve constantly heard this,” said the town manager, who thinks the town’s newfound autonomy will clear up any confusion residents have when they’re unsure where to go for services.
If the move to exclude the town from Unigov passes, the only service Indianapolis will continue providing to Cumberland is fire protection on the Marion County side of town.
Lipps said the break from Indianapolis would enable the town to more equitably provide services between its residents in Marion and Hancock counties.
“In Hancock County we control our own code enforcement zoning, planning, redevelopment authority … those items that really drive quality of life and quality of neighborhood,” he said.
“In Marion County we maintain all the infrastructure, we handle the policing, but we do not control code enforcement or redevelopment authority. We can’t do redevelopment projects because we can’t provide incentives, so we don’t really have the tools to control our own vision in Marion County, but we do in Hancock, and that’s something the residents have asked for for a long time.”
In breaking from Unigov, Cumberland will follow in the footsteps of other cities and towns that have opted out of the partnership, including Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport and Speedway.
According to indyencyclopedia.org, the four communities remain part of Marion County, but not Indianapolis, and are self-governing municipalities.
“Their residents are subject to all countywide ordinances, receive all countywide services, and pay all countywide taxes,” states the website. “They also vote in elections for the Unigov mayor and the City-County Council, in addition to their own municipal officials. Their municipal services are either self-provided or secured from Indianapolis or the township in which they are located.”