Governor Mitch Daniels is going under the knife today. He’s having outpatient surgery to remove an abdominal hernia. He’ll be back to work on Tuesday. I jokingly say the Governor probably got the hernia by trying to carry this state into the 21st Century. Hopefully when he’s back he can continue to take the scalpel and cut the unnecessary layers of government which are responsible for out of control taxes.

12:30 p.m. UPDATE:  The Governor’s surgery was completed before noon. It was successful and he is in recovery. He’ll be headed home this afternoon.

As much as I like the Governor’s Commission on reforming local government, I do have one critique of the plan. 

The commission suggests tinkering with Indiana’s school board and municipal elections.  It suggests moving school board elections to November.  Currently they occur during May primary.  And it suggests moving municipal elections from odd-numbered years to even numbered years.  The goal is to increase voter participation.  An admirable goal, no doubt, but I’d do it a little differently.

I would keep the odd-year elections and reserve them for municipalities.  That way voters could solely focus on those local issues and they won’t get caught up in federal or statewide races.  I’d lump all the mayors, city-county councils, school boards together.  I would also consolidate the elections and shorten the cycle.

I’d make the May Primary a consolidated primary, with the top two vote getters participating in a run off two months later.   There is no reason why a city-council member needs six months to convince someone to vote for them.  If they can’t do it in two months, then maybe they don’t need to run.  The general election would be held in July and then we’re done.

A summer election would increase voter turnout.  A shorter election season would save money and decrease voter burnout on candidates.  And keeping local races separate would allow voters to focus on those issues which are most important and closest to them.

Now that’s government reform.

I’m in the process of reviewing the Local Government Reform Commission’s recommendations on streamlining local government. However, the one I think I like the most is the part on consolidating school districts.

In recommendation #11, the Commission recommends consolidation for school districts that have fewer than 2,000 students. Who can argue with this. Schools take, on average, 54-percent of your property taxes. That means they are more than half the problem.

More than half of 293 school districts in Indiana have fewer than 2,000 students and 46 districts have fewer than 1,000 students. The pride of the pack is the Dewey Township School District in LaPorte County with a whopping 156 students. Just for comparison sake, my high school in Chicago had 2,000 students.

The Commission argues there are too many administrators (”educrats” as I like to call them) and districts. It does not say close schools, but schools should be a lot less top-heavy. Indiana exceeds the national average in non-instructional staff when it comes to schools, but nearly 77 percent of last year’s Indiana high school graduates would not be able to get into IU or Purdue if higher standards slated to go into effect in 2011 were in place today.

This is not about closing schools, so no one would have to move. This is about re-allocating resources to be where they need to be; either in the classroom or in the taxpayers pockets where it belongs.

Tomorrow I’ll share with you my one main criticism of the reform plan.

The Commission headed by former Governor Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall Shepard has come out with its list of recommendations to streamline the more than 3000 units of local government in Indiana.

They include…

Counties
Establish a single-person county elected chief executive. Establish unified legislative body for county government. Transfer county administrative office duties (coroner, surveyor, auditor, etc) to the county executive. Put local assessments under a county executive. Create a countywide body to over see all public safety. Consolidate all emergency dispatch services.

Townships
Transfer all township duties to county government. Move small claims court in Marion County to the superior courts.

Local Governments
Give voters more power to force consolidation. Prohibit employees of a local government from serving as elected officials within the same local government unit.  And only elected officials will be allowed to raise taxes.

Schools
Move school board elections to November in even years. Reorganize school districts to have a minimum population of 2000 students. Require school bonds be approved by the fiscal body containing the greatest proportion of assessed value in the district. Encourage joint purchasing.

Cities and Towns
Move all municipal elections to an even-year cycle. Transfer municipal health departments to the county health department.

Libraries and Special Districts
Reorganize library systems by county and provide permanent library service for all citizens. Require all bonds and budgets be approved by the fiscal body of the municipal or county government containing the greatest proportion of the assessed value in the unit seeking approval.

The State would also set up a system to monitor these recommendations.

I’ll have more later today.

How soon we forget the last election. 

Indiana lawmakers are starting hem and haw about meaningful property tax reform.  They can’t even decide whether the job of township assessors should be elected or appointed.  I’m also hearing that capping levies will hurt local governments.  Freezing assessments will hurt schools. Everyone seems to be looking for an excuse not to do something when as Senator Luke Kenley keeps pointing out something needs to be done to provide homeowners with permanent property tax relief.

Someone needs to remind members of the Indiana General Assembly that the taxpayers are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.  I am not in favor of a total repeal of property taxes, but I understand the anger and frustration of the anti-tax crowd.  Especially as I start to hear excuse after excuse about why nothing can get done. 

Maybe we should move the May primary up to January.   Because if these 150 members of the Legislature won’t do the job and provide Hoosiers with permanent property tax relief, then maybe it’s time to get a new legislature. 

Or you could call them the Colts and the Pacers.  Nuff said!

There is going to be plenty of talk in this town about whether Indianapolis should pursue a Super Bowl bid for 2012.   The city tried earlier this year and came close, losing to Dallas.  I think a Super Bowl would be good for Indianapolis, but it has to be done under the right circumstances.

First, any effort to raise private funds should accompany the creation a foundation for crime prevention programs.  For every $1 raised for a Super Bowl, there should be $.50 raised for a crime prevention foundation.  The interest generated could go to fund the city’s many crime prevention programs and efforts.

Also, the problem with this past year’s efforts is that they were done in a backdrop of rising crime and high property taxes.  Both are still issues, but with new leadership and a wake up call at the city hall, I feel much more confident that they will get addressed in the right manner.

Third, Indianapolis is a convention city.  The city needs conventions to survive and a Super Bowl would clearly demonstrate Indianapolis can handle “the mother of all conventions.”

If done right, a Super Bowl can be good for Indianapolis.  However, in the pursuit of the game, city leaders cannot lose sight of what their primary responsibility to the taxpayers.

As you’ve probably heard the city of Indianapolis is in preparations to possibly bid on bringing the Super Bowl here in 2012.  Bob Bedell of the Indianapolis Convention and Visitor’s bureau made the announcement yesterday.

Bedell says the NFL has given the city its specifics and it will go over them with the Ballard administration.

What you may not know is that when Bedell made the announcement he did not clear it with the Mayor-elect’s office first. And jumped the gun before calling Ballard.

The Ballard camp says they want what is best for the city and a Super Bowl would be good for it. However, if anybody else wants to make a major announcement in the future, would it really kill you to call the Mayor first before going to the press?

A lot of people would appreciate it.

I spoke with Governor Mitch Daniels briefly yesterday.  He says the Commission headed by former Governor Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall Shepard will come out next week with its list of recommendations to reform local government in Indiana.   Daniels says the report will be early and will be the third component to reforming local government to permanently reduce property taxes.

I’ll have the full interview on Monday’s radio show.

For those of you driving today, this morning is actually worse than yesterday.  While the roads are clearer in some places, but they are deceivingly clear.  The black ice is making traveling a pain in the butt in some places.  I always tell people to slow down and not drive too fast for conditions.  You would think as Midwesterners we would know how to handle obnoxious weather in the winter time, but some people just don’t get it.  So drive safe over the next few days.  I’d like to have you around to read my future posts.