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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Ind. Gov. - Still more on: "Who Are These People?"

Updaitng this ILB entry from Feb. 20th, the Indianapolis Star today has an editorial headed "Thanks to politics, inefficiency lives." It begins:

The opportunity to rescue Indiana's taxpayers and people in need from the antiquated and dysfunctional township government system appears to have been missed again this year.

The trustees themselves can hardly take credit for their escape. If the latest measures of their performance were to make their appropriate impression on the Indiana General Assembly, reform of a 19th-century relic would be well under way.
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Sunday, The Star published a second installment of results from an investigation into inconsistency, inefficiency and lack of accountability on the part of the townships. The sampling of 224 of the 1,008 local units found overhead far in excess of other governmental bodies, widespread failure to report eligibility guidelines and expenditures for poor relief, and practices so freewheeling that a needy person's chances for getting assistance vary by what block he lives on.

Sunday's story followed a revelation by The Star on Feb. 11 that the state's townships were sitting on more than $200 million in cash reserves at a time of rising unemployment and poverty, when private food pantries could not meet demand. And the hoarders continued to tax the citizenry at the maximum rate.

So much for the personal touch the trustees tout in defense of their fiefdoms. While it's true smaller can be better, the facts and figures in this case make clear that consolidation of poor relief and other trustee functions under a visible executive or council in each county, using a uniform set of standards, can only do better by the people who need help and the people who pay.

Unfortunately, The Star's Feb. 11 report and other evidence failed to move state Senate committees sufficiently to keep the township elimination cause alive. Sunday's second punch (which won't be the last from The Star) came too late -- not that hard information would have trumped politics.

Here are links to the Star's two (so far), not-to-be-missed reports:

From Feb. 11th, this report by Mark Alesia, Tim Evans, Heather Gillers and Mark Nichols, headed "Indiana townships have $200 million of taxpayer money in reserve: Review shows reserves typically exceed annual budgets."

And from Sunday, Feb. 22nd, this second report from the same team, headed "Indiana townships do a poor job of poor relief: Township aid often determined by location rather than need."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 24, 2009 09:11 AM
Posted to Indiana Government