EDITORIAL: Tax caps are merely opening act for reform

Times of Northwest Indiana

This year's big push in the Indiana General Assembly was property tax relief, in the form of tax caps. It was a necessary move.

Had the legislators not approved House Bill 1001, and had Gov. Mitch Daniels not signed it into law last week, the cost of supporting government would have gone through the roof. The roofs it hasn't already gone through, that is.

But the tax caps to put government on a diet are only one part of the plan to bring down the cost of government. Restructuring is needed, too.

The General Assembly dipped its toe in the water on restructuring, although Rep. Dan Stevenson, D-Highland, failed to get a hearing on his proposal to eliminate the 1,008 township governments.

"I'm hopeful that's one of the issues that comes up next year," Stevenson said. "I definitely have full intention of refiling that bill."

That bill should become law. Townships are an archaic form of government that dates back to the days before the automobile, when government officials had to be within walking distance or an easy horseback ride.

Township responsibilities -- primarily assessing, poor relief, cemetery maintenance and providing fire and ambulance service in unincorporated areas -- easily can be distributed among the other units of government.

But eliminating townships is just one small start toward real government reform. The blueprint offered by the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform must be drafted into legislation this summer for the Legislature to act on next year.

The report recommends some controversial moves:

* Consolidating library and school districts.

* Replacing the three county commissioners with a single elected executive.

* Consolidating the assessing function at the county level. Soon, only 44 assessors will be left.

* Transferring to the county executive responsibilities now belonging to the county auditor, treasurer, recorder, assessor, surveyor, sheriff, coroner and clerk. Simply put, there are too many elected officials and not enough of a requirement that the department heads hold the appropriate credentials.

* Prohibit public employees from serving as elected officials within the same unit of local government.

That panel's 27 recommendations -- only a few of which were implemented this year -- promise to make government more efficient and less expensive. That's an important aspect of driving down the cost of government. Tax caps alone isn't the answer.

Next year, it will be time to finish the job and enact the remaining recommendations into law.