The Truth
Gov. Mitch Daniels spent much of his first year in office focusing on improving state government as a way to save taxpayers money. In his second State of the State Address Wednesday, he turned his attention to schools and local government.
He said local government, in fact, needs an "extreme makeover" by modernizing its makeup, as well as giving local units the ability to raise their own taxes.
The governor wants to give schools and other units of government the chance to consolidate layers of government and has asked the Legislature to give "blanket approval" for them to do so in an effort to promote greater home rule and local autonomy, he said.
There are opportunities where this could be possible, but we're concerned that parochialism will keep it from happening.
The governor isn't relying solely on local governments to do this themselves, however: You could force a consolidation by collecting signatures and forcing a referendum under the plan.
A state chamber study which suggested the elimination of township government brought a small uprising from township officials who want to protect their jobs.
Daniels proposes to shift township property tax assessment to the counties. While it may not save a ton of money since counties will have to hire more staff to pick up the greater assessing load, in the interest of fairness and uniformity for property owners in a given county, Daniels' proposal would appear to be a good idea.
While it is true that it would eliminate some elected positions, does it matter whether the position is elected? We would argue that it doesn't since assessment is a technical and apolitical function of government that affects our pocketbooks more today than it ever has in the past.
Local government reorganization is a worthwhile goal, so long as it is done to improve and eliminate costly duplication of services to the taxpayers. Officials here have already begun talking about areas where services overlap, including building, planning, parks and 911 communications departments, for example.
Daniels would create incentives for local governments to do these things by allowing them to keep at least some of their tax levy (so the entire amount wouldn't be saved).
The governor also wants to give local governments the ability to raise new local option, sales, food and beverage and inkeepers' taxes in order to take some of the burden off property taxes for increased spending in the future. The proposal calls for 80 percent of that new revenue to be dedicated to property tax relief.
His proposals are being supported by the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, the Association of Indiana Counties and the Indiana Association of County Commissioners.
Meanwhile, the governor reiterated his earlier proposal to free up school construction and other overhead money to be used for teachers and in public school classrooms. And he again pushed for more bulk buying of supplies, buses, insurance and energy.
But he added, "Our school administrators should be permitted to opt out of expensive state requirements that consume time and money but add little or nothing to student achievement."
Daniels said that the state spends $10 billion on K-12 education and for every 1 percent shift from overhead to classroom, about 1,500 new teachers could be hired or a computer could be purchased for every high school student.
Indiana already spends about $10,000 per student, he said, and is among the top states in its financial commitment to education.
"Let's catch up and pass other states in the efficiency of our school spending," the governor said. "I am sending to the General Assembly a package of reforms to enable our school officials to conserve scarce dollars and redeploy them to the classrooms and teachers of our state."
The school reforms are the less controversial of the two. And while both make sense overall, the chances of his local government modernization package remaining intact are not very good, especially because it involves the elimination of elected offices. Other elected officials tend to stick up for their own, regardless of the net positive impact on the taxpayers.
You need to make your voice heard on the matter.