The seven-member commission was chaired by former Gov. Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall Shepard. Gov. Daniels recently endorsed eliminating county commissioners, surveyor, treasurer, assessor, recorder and coroner.
It should be noted that most members of the commission have city backgrounds and made very few suggestions regarding municipal government. Instead, it proposed counties be restructured to follow a city-style system by eliminating multiple elected officials. This would make counties look and operate just like cities, while there is no financial evidence this is more efficient. In fact, some of Indiana's municipalities (cities) are in much worse shape than counties.
The absolute worst Kernan-Shepard finding is the appointment/election of a single "county" executive to oversee operations.
This will make government more secret and less open to public scrutiny.
Currently, all official business of the county commissioners and council must be done in a public meeting with a recorded vote. To consolidate this power into one county "czar" will take that away from local voters. It will make county government less accountable. By eliminating elected office holder the "czar" will replace them with appointed bureaucrats. Taxpayers will have less or no recourse to demand services or accountability. The notion that eliminating local offices and consolidating them into a county "president" function will make government more expensive. I doubt that "appointed" officials will do the same job for what "elected" individuals do. If this unified form of government were really efficient would Indianapolis/Marion County (unigov: city/county government) have some of the highest tax rates in the state?
The federal government has the largest debt in history. State government is broke and forced to borrow from the federal government, and they want to blame county government? By the way, of the total tax levy, county government accounts for 15 percent. Local government is the best value for taxpayers. Local elected officials interact with voters and taxpayers each and every day. They are held accountable throughout their whole term of office.
This is simply a power grab. This report recommends taking local government access away from us, the "average joe", and consolidating it with a few, more powerful individuals.
Thomas Jefferson once said, "Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have." Furthermore, "The course of history shows that as government grows, liberty decreases." Please call, e-mail or write your state representative or senator and voice your opinion.
Democracy, and the millions of lives that have been sacrificed to protect it, should not slip away due to the "report" of a few bureaucrats. We should all realize, recognize and appreciated the price of our precious liberty.
You have the right to a voice and a vote. Please use it!
