We must eliminate township government in Indiana. It is unnecessary and too expensive.

Isn’t it a shame when two politicians can thwart the will of thousands of citizens!

And they wonder why people trust them less than used car salesmen.

Just to save us all time, I’ll give the Wilson line here:

“If Drummer was so bad, why did Center voters re-elect him?”

Mind you, I think the question is stupid, but I was just trying to save us all some time…

Townships do need to go. And they will. If not this year, soon. Because Carl Drummer can’t be held back from himself. He’ll buy more property, do more silly things, waste more money. And at some point folks will finally have their fill.

It’s close, but the calendar may crush reform this year. If it does, it’s only temporary. Very temporary. Like the coloring in Wilson’s hair.

Do we elect people to represent their constituency, to exercise their own deliberative judgement, or are there sometimes other motivations? The constituency (and analysis) seem emphatic that Indiana needs fairer taxation and less government. I’m puzzled if it’s deliberation that’s created a revised tax cap that appears to lessen revenue for schools – a purported area of concern. That potentially brings us to neither representation of constituency or deliberative judgement, but to “other motivations”. A recent Indy City-Councilman (Vernon Brown-D?), acknowleged that despite his disagreement, the will of the people was clear in the Anderson/ Ballard head-of-Indy-law-enforcement issue. I hope our other elected officials can exercise similar statemanship.

I never cease to be amazed at politics. Only in Indiana can two men whose positions diametrically oppose the wishes of the people, blue ribbon panels that are bipartisan, the leaders of each of their parties, etc. thwart a business like, intellegent idea like government consolidation. If Mitch Daniels were really interested in good government he would castigate this Senator of his party so bad publically that he could not get elected Dog Catcher unopposed. If Peterson were so interested in Indianapolis still he would issue a joint statement with the Governor saying Bill Crawford is the worst thing to happen to good government. Of course we all know those two would never take such bold initiatives as being leaders of their respective political parties. No one will stand up to the bullies in the legislature not even a Governor who touts himself as a reformer. Sad, truly sad. Ok, now we can talk about Barack “borrowing” lines from his buddy in Mass. Ha! Ha!…. I must learn to take all these kinds of events in stride and go back to church regularly.

Crawford has to use his race card anytime he can

Center Township is less than 1.5% of Center Township taxpayers property tax bill. Some outsiders want to make a mountain out of that molehill!

Wilson, 1.5% does seem insignificant but if consolidation can reduce it to .75% without cutting services wouldn’t that better for everyone. There needs to be a holistic approach to property tax relief and every taxing authority needs to participate, even the trustees.

The same lame argument keeps coming up about Center, or any other township, only being a small percentage of your total tax bill.

And it’s technically true.

But in Center, for instance, which is Indiana’s largest township government, there’s another hidden cost. Their power-hingry trustee has purchased multiple properties for future development purposes.

By any conservative estimate, that removes about $12-14 million of taxable property from the rolls. And it creates untold future liability for taxpayers.

This isn’t jsut about 1.5%, Wilson. It’s about inefficient use of human and real capital. Every single function of the trustee can be performed by another unit of government cheaper. And those other units haven’t adopted the real estate magnate mentality of the incumbent.

In fact, almost every function of all township government can be performed by another unit of government cheaper. Definitely more efficiently. And some of those functions are distinctly important: poor relief to the least among us; consistent assessment of real property, so we can have confidence in the system.

Want me to go on…?

Agreed, Bruiser. If we could cut each of Indiana’s 2000+ taxing entities by just .75% … you do the math.
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Side note: Hendricks Co. appointed (not elected) Rep. Steuerwald recently told a group of party folks that he didn’t think local gov’t had a hand in skyrocketing property tax bills. What a laugh! He’d rather protect his cronies than the taxpayers, I guess.

The percentage of the tax bill is not the critical aspect. The critical aspect is allowing taxpayers to keep MILLIONS of dollars they have earned, instead of taking it away from them & giving it to a corrupt political machine that is, in true Democrat form of TAX & SPEND politics, using it to create a PATRONAGE unnecessary payroll of cronys and buy buildings that are not needed, and even to put a bar in a government building!!!

It is wrong. That money belongs to those who EARNED it, not to a corrupt political machine.

Sick of guys like Crawford and Long putting politics before you and your money?

LAKE COUNTY TEA PARTY ON MARCH 1st.
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We have more details on the website. Everyone is invited. There will be a caravan leaving Indy about 9am.
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This will undoubtedly be statewide and national news.
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Press releases are going out nation-wide on Monday.

Save Indiana,
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Your comments are a reflection of some of the comments that Thomas Paine wrote in “Common Sense”.
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Paine refers to government as a “necessary evil”. In other words, when weighed against the inherent rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, government is an evil entity at best, that must be constrained and formed by the will of the people.
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Hence, the people who run and perform government duties are participating in an evil that is sometimes necessary, but is evil nonetheless.
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That’s where the torches and pitchforks come into play. We’ve reached a turning point where the cost of an over-reaching and ever-expanding government has become too much. The government won’t stop itself. That’s why we need torches and pitchforks. If they won’t stop and if they won’t step down, the only other recourse is to submit.

Check out our blog today. We received a document in our in box you will find interesting.
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Sullivan Hardware is having a pitchfork and torch sale this weekend.

It would certainly save the taxpayers in Wayne Township on their property tax bill. The fire rate is too high!

Expect next years tax rates to be even higher – with bond auctions failing at an unprecedented rate (nobody wants the risk) interest rates on municiplal bonds are soaring. How are those financed? Typically with property taxes. Here’s a recent example:
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“Thousands of auctions run by banks to set rates on the debt failed this month as investors shunned the securities and bankers refused to submit bids, sending interest costs to 10 percent or higher on some bonds. Auctions covering as much as $26 billion of bonds a day failed to attract enough buyers since Feb. 13, according to Bank of America Corp.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=awCJRyi5ngcQ&refer=us
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The tax problem won’t see any improvement until the municipal bond/financial issues are resolved. There’s still tens of billions in write-downs coming up before the end of next quarter, which will only worsen the current bond market. I don’t expect any significant correction to begin until well into ‘09 at the very earliest, unless the Fed seriously jumpstarts rates and begins making foreign investment look attractive. And that will place ARM holders in more serious jeopardy.

Reba, several years ago the anti consolidation Trustees, signed a document saying they were going to save money consolidate severices, combine insurance, buy vehicles together, toliet paper,etc, well voters, as of today, none of this as happened, it was all smoke and mirrors to say Township government can me efficient, thats one reason your Wayne Township taxes are high, there are many more reasons too!

OK – now that I can’t get back to sleep (sick youngin’!) I’d like to add to my last post…
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“The price of insuring corporate bonds has skyrocketed in the last few weeks making it more difficult for businesses to get the funding they need to expand or continue present operations. Much of this has to do with the growing uncertainty about the reliability of credit default swaps, a $45 trillion dollar market which remains virtually unregulated. Credit-default swaps are a type of financial instrument that are used to speculate on a company’s ability to repay debt. They pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent if a borrower fails to adhere to its debt agreements. When the price of CDSs increases, it means that there is greater doubt about the quality of the bond. Prices are presently soaring because the entire structured finance market – and anything connected to it – is under withering attack from the meltdown in subprime mortgages. As foreclosures continue to rise, the securities that were fashioned from subprime loans will continue to unwind, destroying trillions of dollars of virtual-capital in the secondary market.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8157
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How does this translate to the average homeowner? More expensive everything. Less access to loans. And higher municipal taxes to cover incresing bond rates. That adds to the pain of ARM holders who are struggling to prevent foreclosure, perpetuating the core of the problem.
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And in terms of business development, things are worse. Heard of any cancelled business ventures lately? There’s little confidence and declining capital. In previous posts regarding peashakes and money laundering, I’ve posted how banks reap exponential profit from a small amount of hard capital. In todays crisis, that margin has dropped from about 3,000% in loan potential to about 400% – nobody wants to insure a risk in any mortgage backed security.
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That means that job growth must slow and that capital expansion must subside – and even contract in non-essential business markets.
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I raise the economic issues because the current debate regarding taxes and representation is revolving almost entirely around government spending and political fiefdoms. Those are simply the low hanging fruit that are visible to the public when tax burdens become overbearing. But they’re only a part of the problem. Without taking in the whole economic picture, we the people can never make headway on the tax crisis until we recognize that our local economies and municipal funding are tied directly to economic policy and subsequent performance at the macro level.

There can be no short or medium term tax solution without taking this into perspective. It’s the elephant that nobody at the policy level wants to talk about. It’s easier to just blame the assessors and local government, without explaining why the assessors were giving new marching orders.

What I understand is that , in my area (Meridian Kesslar), there are about 64 governing bodies that can, and do, tax me. When you add up all the 1.5%’s that is what makes my tax rate twice as high as everyone else. And some of those governing bodies aren’t elected and aren’t accountable to any one. That alone is why we need to control and eliminate excess government and spending.
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All the more reason to-
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