And they did.  Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson announced a deal this afternoon over the future of the Metropolitan Police Department.   Under the agreement, Ballard will get operational control of IMPD.  However, in exchange for the department, Ballard agrees to consult with Anderson on several matters, including the selection of […]

Tonight is the City-County Council’s Public Safety Committee’s hearing on an ordinance that will transfer control of the Metropolitan Police Department from Sheriff Frank Anderson to Mayor Greg Ballard. Opponents plan to show up and make the following four arguments. It lowers accountability in public safety by having two appointed officials in charge as opposed to one elected official. […]

Indiana House Democrats and Republicans are blaming each other over the death of a bill that would have codified Governor Mitch Daniels’ property tax assessment caps into the state Constitution. House Joint Resolution 1 would have capped resident property tax assessments at 1 percent of a home’s value, 2 percent for rental property and 3 […]

In the property tax debate, I argue the schools have been the worst offenders. They are anywhere from 40-80 percent of the property tax problem. They complained about caps on assessments. They also fought against referendums on school projects in order to keep costs under control. And if all that wasn’t bad enough, here’s a […]

I knew it was too good to be true. There it was, a property tax crisis of near Biblical proportion. Citizens were mad; politicians were scared, real change was a possibility.  And then, my world of reform started to turn into dust. Over in the Indiana State Senate, the new policy has become protecting fellow […]

There were quite a few things happening around town this afternoon.  Here they are… The Concerned Clergy, a small group of Black pastors, plan to protest Thursday’s Public Safety Committee meeting over handing control of the police department from Sheriff Frank Anderson to Mayor Greg Ballard.  According to my sources, the group won’t protest under […]

Indiana State Senator Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville) says he’s pleased Indiana House members passed out Governor Daniels property tax reform plan, but he says there are “a lot of warts” on the bill that the Senate is going to have to clean up. House members passed tax reform with $350 million of  new spending they including […]

I told you how I spent part of my weekend going through a box of old papers concerning the 2005 police merger of the Indianapolis Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Department.  Well I found something else in that batch of paper that might help some folks understand that a referedum on consolidation would […]

My sources around town tell me there was a big caucus meeting this weekend between Marion County House, Senate and City-County Council Democrats to talk about government consolidation. I’m sure they talked about what a great idea it is and how they will be on board and support it.  I say this because many of […]

Believe it or not I actually had some time this weekend to get a few things in order around the house. While doing so I came across some 2005 articles and clippings regarding police consolidation. Some of you might recall those days when former Mayor Bart Peterson told citizens if he didn’t get police consolidation […]