The pro-township forces keep telling me that township government is important because it’s the government closest to the people.  Maybe someone should tell that to the Franklin Township Trustee Terry Royalty.   I’m told he’s been on vacation in Florida since October and apparently this tends to be an annual trip.

Now I should be surprised, but I’m not.  I’m also told right after he got elected, he went to the township advisory board for a raise.

Now I don’t know about you, but if someone was trying to eliminate my job, saying it was inefficient and it could be done better at the County level, I don’t know if I’d be down south relaxing four months out of the year and proving their point.

But who knows, maybe one day the voters or government reform will send Terry on a permanent vacation.

UPDATE: I just got a call from Royalty telling me that he was on vacation but is back.  He says he never goes on vacation for months at a time.

Want to know what the city of Indianapolis would like to spend economic stimulus on?  Click here.

The total cost, $268,323,010.

The Indiana Senate by a vote of 28-22 passed legislation that would allow cities and towns to install cameras at intersections to catch drivers who run red lights.  The cameras would photograph rear plates and the tickets issued could not be more than $100.

Proponents say it will save lives and free up police.  My civil libertarian friends say this is an invasion of privacy and just a way for governments to raise money.  

Of course there is a real easy way to avoid getting a ticket, it’s called don’t run the red light.  If you don’t run a red light, you won’t get a ticket.

Understood?

Proponents of township government may be basking the glow of “victories” at the Statehouse Wednesday they can’t be so oblivious as to deny the inevitable?

1. Can they deny property tax caps are coming?
2. Can they deny declining property values that will negatively impact their tax base?
3. Can they deny the bad economy will likely impact requests for poor relief and eat through their savings?
4. Can they deny even for a moment that if Mitch Daniels doesn’t get government reform he will use his executive authority to make their lives as difficult as possible through the Department of Local Government and Finance?

I feel like John Connor in the Terminator trying to tell these people what’s coming but they won’t listen. Township government may not be dead, but by the time the Governor is done with them, they’ll wish they were.

There are a lot of things in this world which I never thought I would see.

Barack Obama as President.  O. J. Simpson in jail.  And Republican State Senator Mike Young of Indianapolis vote to raise taxes on Marion County residents, but that’s pretty much what he did today in the Senate Local Government Committee.

The Committee voted 6-5 to approve SB 482, which consolidates the Marion County Township fire departments, if they don’t opt out by a super-majority vote (5 of the 7 township advisory board members) this fall.

Young voted against the measure and by doing so voted for a defacto tax increase.

You see the property tax caps kick in fully in 2010 and since the township governments have not come up with a plan to address how they will provide fire service in an age of tax caps, falling home prices and increased foreclosures, it’s only logical to assume they will have to go to the state and ask the tax caps be lifted, thus in fact a tax increase.

I never thought I’d live to see the day that Republican Mike Young would do something like that.

I guess it is true what they say, if you stay in politics long enough, you will eventually see just about everything.

The Marion County townships with fire departments and no plans to consolidate do have a plan to deal with the impending shortfall due to property tax caps, it’s called raise taxes.

Pike, Wayne, Decatur, Franklin and Lawrence are facing millions in shortfalls when the property tax caps kick in fully in 2010.  Although some have reserves, the slumping economy will likely mean more demand for poor relief which will eat through those savings.

Although no one will say it publicly,  I hear several Trustees are considering plans to go to the state and ask for the tax caps to be raised, saying they won’t be able to provide fire protection and people will die.  So these Trustees would rather see taxes go up, rather than give up their power.

Kind of gives new meaning to death and taxes. 

Here are some little things to report this morning.   I’ll be at the Statehouse later with more updates…

• City officials say they may be able to save a couple million in interest payments on Lucas Oil Stadium due to refinancing which can help them get a little closer to plugging the $43 million operational deficit.
• Ed Coleman’s defection to the Libertarian party is drawing a muted public response from the Marion County GOP, however some Councilors are saying privately that Coleman is not telling the entire story about his defection and it was more about his ego than his political philosophy.  There is no Republican consensus yet on how to deal with Coleman.  Some members of the GOP say he should be stripped of his committee assignments.  Others say he should be left alone and ignored and an additional GOP member added to those committees.
• If the Smoke Free Indy people are trying to play the intimidation game, they are doing it horribly.  One local bar owner told me he received several phone calls yesterday from people asking if his bar was smoke free? He told them “yes” and they told him they would not be patronizing his establishment. However the bar owner’s establishment was in a working class neighborhood and the “callers” were clearly from more upscale parts of town who would be the last people to frequent his establishment regardless of whether it was smoking.

Indiana lawmakers took their first major step today toward passing a budget.  By a vote of 14-9, the House Ways and Means Committee passed a one-year spending plan totaling $14.5 billion.

The budget includes more than $308 million in new spending; most of which goes for education which was not included in Governor Daniels’ budget and $26 million less in economic development. 

House Democrats say they are meeting the state’s obligation to maintain Indiana’s educational infrastructure, however Republicans say the by the time the money is spent Indiana would only have about a week’s worth of money still left in the bank.  The GOP also called a one-year spending irresponsible while Democrats say it’s the prudent way to handle finances in this economic downturn.

Lawmakers are still waiting to see exactly how much Indiana will receive in the form of economic stimulus from Washington, an amount estimated to be between $4 and $6 billion.

In a room full of more Libertarians than media, At-large City-County Councilor Ed Coleman today officially cast aside his Republican label for a Libertarian one.

Coleman says he left the GOP because the “party had changed” and was not “the same party he joined years ago.”  He also said the current Republican-controlled Council abuses its power and he also took shots at the Capital Improvement Board, which he says is not transparent and operates in secret.  He also plans to ask Municipal Committee Chairman Mike McQuillen to subpoena the CIB and explain its finances before the Council.

Coleman did not say if thought he would lose his committee assignments because of the party switch, but did say he is still the same person he was when he was assigned to Rules and Economic Development.  He also said he received little financial support from the party so he won’t have to return any funds now that he’s switched over.

Coleman also said that he can still be effective on the Council even though he is the lone Libertarian because he will always do what is in the best interest of the citizens.

Here are ten simple rules on how NOT to have a “informational” Town Hall meeting on the implications of a total ban on smoking in all workplaces in Marion County.

1. Don’t have everyone on your “information” panel be associated with the anti-smoking group.
2. Don’t have your moderator be affiliated with the anti-smoking group.
3. Don’t have the banner of the anti-smoking group prominently displayed in the front of the room.
4. Don’t have the banner of the anti-smoking group prominently displayed at the entrance to the meeting.
5. Don’t have the anti-smoking group label T-shirts with their supporters names on them to hand out at the meetings.
6. Don’t have 40-percent of the audience be affiliated with the anti-smoking group.
7. Don’t forget to tell the audience at the start of the town hall meeting that the second town hall meeting will present an alternative point of view.
8. Don’t spend the first 40 minutes of your two-hour “informational” town hall meeting talking about how the city needs a smoking ban.
9. Don’t ever say the reason your anti-smoking message isn’t getting out is because of a “restriction of the flow of information.”
10. Don’t forget, if the city does pass a full smoking ban, someone is going to get rich finding the loopholes. Hint! Hint!