EDITORIAL: Townships should be abolished

Times of Northwest Indiana

State Reps. Dan Stevenson, D-Highland, and Jerry Torr, R-Carmel, deserve credit for leading the charge against one of the most archaic forms of local government in Indiana.

Their House Bill 1406 would eliminate township government outside Marion County. That would be a major step, though hardly the only necessary step, toward government streamlining.

It is safe to say there will be heavy opposition to this bill. After all, there are 1,008 township trustees in Indiana, and nearly all of them would lose their jobs and their political clout if this bill is approved.

Expect to hear township employees say how great they are as the fight for government streamlining focuses on the township trustees.

North Township Trustee Frank Mrvan already is touting the township's leadership during last September's flooding. Township workers not only went door to door to provide emergency relief items and furniture but also worked with the Greater Northwest Indiana Realtors Association and Indiana Economic Development for Housing to help find housing for flood victims.

"When people come to me they don't ask, 'How old is this form of government?'" Mrvan said. "They ask me for help."

But that help doesn't have to disappear. It can be delivered in other means and from other units of government.

Why shouldn't poor relief recipients be able to file just one application to determine what, if any, assistance they should receive? Why bounce from agency to agency? That would be a service improvement to the poor relief recipient and a potential cost savings on the taxpayers' behalf.

Cemetery maintenance could be done by county highway or public works employees. Recreation could be assigned to the county parks department.

The public no longer needs township trustees within a short distance of home. Today's motor vehicles let people easily and quickly travel greater distances, whether by bus or personal vehicle, to seek government services.

The Indiana General Assembly should approve House Bill 1406 as a step toward restoring sanity and efficiency to the structure of government.