By Scott Olson, The IBJ
solson@ibj.com
Greg Ballard's extensive plan to consolidate local government includes a measure that would transfer the delivery of poor relief from township trustees to a new city department in 2011.
Ballard's proposal, dubbed UniGov 2.0, promotes efficiency by eliminating township governments and giving him control of not only township assistance - the preferred term for poor relief - but also tax collection and other county services.
"Poor relief is inconsistently delivered by our nine different township trustees," Ballard said in his speech to the Rotary Club of Indianapolis yesterday. "It's just like the township assessors: same goal, but nine people doing it ... differently."
Statewide, he argued that townships, including those in Indianapolis, collectively have millions of dollars in cash balances exceeding the amount they need to provide services.
Indeed, IBJ reported last February that Center Township Trustee Carl Drummer's office routinely spends less on township assistance than it collects each year. At the end of 2007, the surplus amounted to $7.1 million. Since 2001, the reserve has ranged from $4 million to $10.4 million, depending on expenses.
The Trustee's Office received an average of $6.9 million each of the last seven years, mostly from taxes, but only about $2 million reached the penniless each year.
Drummer and his predecessors also have stockpiled property over the years, building a portfolio of mostly undeveloped land and buildings worth at least $10 million.
In fact, Drummer is rarely asked to explain his finances, IBJ found. His budget is filed - unread - each year in the Indianapolis City Controller's office. An elected township board is intended to provide checks and balances, but rarely questions his decisions.
Still, some question whether Ballard's far-reaching consolidation plan would give him too much authority. Pat Andrews, vice president of the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations, said her organization will take a position once directors have digested the entire proposal.
So far, however, "we haven't seen any evidence of the promised savings that we would like to see," she said.
Further, Andrews voiced support for township governments, adding: "From what I've seen they're fairly reflective of the communities."
Township assessors already are in the process of being phased out in most Indiana communities, and Gov. Mitch Daniels is advocating additional efforts to streamline local government.
He has called for eliminating elections for county treasurers, recorders, assessors, surveyors and coroners, and having a new county administrator appoint personnel to those positions. The administrator would replace three-member county boards of commissioners.
Ballard's proposal would need legislative support to move ahead.