Don’t Look Too Closely
I’m working on some “behind the scenes” information about what happened to make your taxes go through the roof. I’m still sorting out the details but there appears to be a lot questions concerning local officials.
For example, did the County Assessor do his job by using all the tools at his disposal to deal with the disparity between residential and commercial and industrial property? And did the County Auditor do her job by providing all the necessary county parcel data before bills went out? Did some township assessors drop the ball and not do their jobs correctly? Those are just a few questions, trust me, there’s more.
Meanwhile, the Mayor has sent out a news release thanking the Governor for looking into a special session. And while he reiterates his call for the state to pick up child welfare costs, give Marion County more property tax replacement credit money and pass fire consolidation, I wish he would call for consolidation of all township offices, including the Trustees and stand up to Bill Crawford. And while he’s at it he can call for the legislature to pass his Fiscal Policy Council that would reign in local spending by the 67 taxing districts in Marion County.
And not to be outdone, City-County Council President Monroe Gray is getting into the act by not only supporting a special session, but calling on lawmakers to give governments the authority to apply 2008 refund checks to 2007 property tax bills and to use surplus gas tax revenue to lower property taxes.
You know it would be nice if someone would put out a news release saying “we’re going to spend less money so Hoosiers can pay less in taxes!” That would be news.
