INDIANAPOLIS | Northwest Indiana has more school corporations, more cities and towns and more government agencies than any similar-sized region in Indiana.
Property taxpayers have long paid the price for these potentially duplicative government services. But the region as a whole may be paying a higher price as businesses seeking to avoid the hassle of dealing with dozens of tiny bureaucracies locate elsewhere.
"Businesses, and people in general, are looking to have the services they need provided to them in the way that they want them delivered," said Mark Maassel, president of the Northwest Indiana Forum. "We could benefit from changes in the way that government services are delivered here in Northwest Indiana."
In theory, with its lower property tax rates on businesses and homeowners and lower sales taxes, Northwest Indiana should be constantly luring companies from Chicago and other cities in neighboring Illinois. At least, Gov. Mitch Daniels thinks so.
Earlier this month he told more than 200 Chicago business leaders in a speech at the Union League Club that his goal as governor has been to make Indiana into "the best sandbox" for business development.
In many parts of the state, Daniels' plan has worked. Medical suppliers and technology firms are springing up in Indianapolis. An entire electric car industry is developing near Elkhart. And southern Indiana can point to new jobs in such diverse industries as historic book publishing and energy drink manufacturing.
But for Northwest Indiana, the job announcements coming out of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. have been few and far between.
One significant difference between the region and the rest of the state: lots of local governments. In that way, Northwest Indiana is actually very similar to Illinois, which has more units of local government than any other state.
Could the region benefit economically by eliminating or consolidating many of its local government units and becoming more like the rest of Indiana?
Daniels thinks so. On several occasions the Republican governor has urged local governments, particularly cash-strapped units in Northwest Indiana, to consider joining together to provide the same services more efficiently.
"Combine the administration, get a lot of duplicate overhead out and put it to the use of the citizen," Daniels said.
According to Maassel, when businesses consider moving to a new area, local government efficiency is an important concern.
"It's certainly one of the key things to look at," Maassel said. "If there are things at the local level that somehow take away from our advantage, especially when we're right next to businesses in other states that could quite easily relocate to Indiana, I think it is a problem."
In the 2010 session, the Indiana General Assembly resisted Daniels' effort to eliminate township government and get rid of a level of government dating from the early 19th century that Daniels says doesn't need to continue to exist in the 21st century. The governor is likely to take another shot at local government reform next year, especially if Republicans win control of both chambers of the General Assembly.
Maassel said his group stands ready to help whoever can find a way to improve economic development in Northwest Indiana, especially if it includes the possibility of making local government more efficient and effective.
"Like many, many business organizations we're very much in favor of looking at those options, deciding what's really going to work well and moving forward with them," he said.