Lt. Gov. Ellspermann Hears from Local Officials During Statewide Tour
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jordan Fouts-
She listened to business and agriculture leaders in the morning about the challenges unique to Kosciusko, then heard from county and town officials about what the state can do for them.
The sentiment that several local officials expressed, in bringing up issues such as unfunded mandates, state agency restrictions and tax levy caps, is that what the state can do for the county is leave it alone.
It was a point well-taken, Ellspermann responded.
“The continued desire to affirm local control was expressed more loudly here,” she observed after hearing from local officials. “The important thing about this tour is for people to say what they want to say. It’s a new administration and now is the time to provide feedback so we can make adjustments.”
County officials shared the same concerns with much of the rest of the state, she said, such as infrastructure needs and how to fund them. They voted for their biggest concerns in five areas – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and the state’s role – by placing red dot stickers on posters in the back of the room.
The county’s low unemployment rate emerged as the best strength, but the potential for welfare fraud and need to improve infrastructure as the biggest weaknesses. Picked as the biggest threats were the effects of the Affordable Care Act on industry and the loss of personal property tax revenue.
Ellspermann said concerns unique to the county she heard included the fear that, though the medical device industry is a model industry, it may also be “a lot of eggs in one basket”; and that, while the county is financially sound, the state sometimes makes that difficult.
“When you ask the public what level of government they trust the most, most say the local government. But in the past 20 years there’s been a power grab from the state to put the lid on local government,” County Councilman Larry Teghtmeyer said. He gave the example of the E911 emergency call program, which the county wanted to fund with property taxes rather than phone fees.
When the state said otherwise, he said, “We were left holding a $600,000 bag.”
Having state funding for roundabouts was nice, noted County Commissioner Brad Jackson, but it would have been better to spend the money “where we thought we needed it, not where the state thought we needed it.”
Highlighting the communication problem between the state and county at times, County Council President Bob Sanders remarked that the county wouldn’t even have known it had the money coming if the Michiana Area Council of Government hadn’t found a fund marked “Kos.,” which sat unclaimed for three years.
Ellspermann plans to make a report available to the Indiana General Assembly at the end of the 92-county tour.[[In-content Ad]]
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She listened to business and agriculture leaders in the morning about the challenges unique to Kosciusko, then heard from county and town officials about what the state can do for them.
The sentiment that several local officials expressed, in bringing up issues such as unfunded mandates, state agency restrictions and tax levy caps, is that what the state can do for the county is leave it alone.
It was a point well-taken, Ellspermann responded.
“The continued desire to affirm local control was expressed more loudly here,” she observed after hearing from local officials. “The important thing about this tour is for people to say what they want to say. It’s a new administration and now is the time to provide feedback so we can make adjustments.”
County officials shared the same concerns with much of the rest of the state, she said, such as infrastructure needs and how to fund them. They voted for their biggest concerns in five areas – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and the state’s role – by placing red dot stickers on posters in the back of the room.
The county’s low unemployment rate emerged as the best strength, but the potential for welfare fraud and need to improve infrastructure as the biggest weaknesses. Picked as the biggest threats were the effects of the Affordable Care Act on industry and the loss of personal property tax revenue.
Ellspermann said concerns unique to the county she heard included the fear that, though the medical device industry is a model industry, it may also be “a lot of eggs in one basket”; and that, while the county is financially sound, the state sometimes makes that difficult.
“When you ask the public what level of government they trust the most, most say the local government. But in the past 20 years there’s been a power grab from the state to put the lid on local government,” County Councilman Larry Teghtmeyer said. He gave the example of the E911 emergency call program, which the county wanted to fund with property taxes rather than phone fees.
When the state said otherwise, he said, “We were left holding a $600,000 bag.”
Having state funding for roundabouts was nice, noted County Commissioner Brad Jackson, but it would have been better to spend the money “where we thought we needed it, not where the state thought we needed it.”
Highlighting the communication problem between the state and county at times, County Council President Bob Sanders remarked that the county wouldn’t even have known it had the money coming if the Michiana Area Council of Government hadn’t found a fund marked “Kos.,” which sat unclaimed for three years.
Ellspermann plans to make a report available to the Indiana General Assembly at the end of the 92-county tour.[[In-content Ad]]
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