Who Would Have Thought?
I just spent part of my afternoon and evening over at the Indiana General Assembly. Not much is taking place, which is surprising because these guys have until Sunday to get their work done. One issue I’m following closely is Indy Works, part III. And what’s funny about this is how in the last days of the session, roles are starting to reverse.
I honestly thought I would never live to see the day that a Lawrence Republican is for consolidation and a City Democrat opposed it. There are two proposals on the table to consolidate government in Marion County. Democrat Bill Crawford and Republican Jim Merritt both have ideas. The two big differences are a freeze in the tax levy and the elimination of the Center Township Trustee’s office.
The levy freeze isn’t what caught my attention as much as the Democrats are opposing the elimination of the Center Township Trustee. The logic is simple, if the other township trustees go away, why shouldn’t the Center Township Trustee join them? Under Merritt’s proposal the Health and Hospital Board would take over poor relief, which is the Trustee’s main job, which it apparently doesn’t do very well because it costs more than $2 to administer $1 of poor relief. It’s sitting on more than $12 million in the bank and owns a lot of property that should be on the tax rolls.
That sounds to me like a model for the type of waste and inefficiency that Mayor Bart Peterson has rallied against and should be eliminated. However, House Democrats like Bill Crawford and Greg Porter say it’s a non-starter and deal breaker. I say if it’s good enough to eliminate the other township trustees (which I am all in favor) then the Center Township Trustee should go also.
It seems like a big exercise in intellectual dishonesty that the people who supported consolidation for the past two sessions for all the other townships in Marion County would oppose it when it comes to an office that by all objective accounts is the poster child for consolidation. And now that I’ve pointed out their inconsistency, hopefully they will see the error of their ways and not let their short-comings turn into blatant hypocrisy.
