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Tuesday, 16 March 2010 |
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The 2010 Indiana General Assembly adjourned sine die on Saturday morning, March 13 without passing any reform measures for township government.
This session marked the seventh in a row that the Indiana Township Association has fought to maintain township government as we know it. The first battle came in 2004 when then Representative Kuzman introduced House Bill 1155 to eliminate township government.
Since that time, each session of the General Assembly has heard bills to either reform or eradicate township government. The 2010 session included Senate Bill 240 - a measure that would have eliminated township boards and ended nepotism. This bill left the senate and never received a hearing in the house.
House Bill 1181 was written by Chairman Crawford to give citizens of Indiana a voice through the referendum process. A question would have been placed on the November 2010 ballot asking voters whether or not to retain township government in their specific government.
The Indiana Township Association took the position that we are against any attempt to dismantle townships; however, if the General Assembly were to look at eliminating townships altogether, the only appropriate way to do so is through a referendum. As Chairman Crawford said, “It is not right that 150 people” (referring to the General Assembly) “should dictate how the citizens of Indiana are governed”.
Our argument against reform this year, which was embraced by our friends in the Legislature, was that the ITA had assembled a Task Force for Best Practices for the 21st Century. The assurance by your lobbying team that this Task Force is looking at meaningful reform was reason enough for some to take a “hands off” approach for this session.
“Wins” for this sessionNot all was lost in the ITA’s attempt for “good” legislation this session. Two positive changes were included in House Bill 1086 - the omnibus tax bill, authored by Representative Welch.
The Indiana Fire Chiefs’ Association and the Indiana Township Association once again worked in tandem this session to both prevent harm and to promote positive changes to state law. The two associations promoted the change from one year to three years on the phase in time for a new tax rate in the formation of fire territories.
Previously, when the fire territory law was first written, we were given three years to incrementally raise the tax rates within the new territory. Two years ago, that law was changed giving only one year which many believed put a hardship on taxpayers and de-incentivised the formation of new territories.
The second mark in the “win column” is a provision also found in HB1086 which allows the Department of Local Government Finance to return max levies to their original level after a unit of government lowers the levy in order to give taxpayers a break while spending cash reserves.
Since 2006, units have been “penalized” for lowering their levies. This is a problem for our members who would like to spend down cash reserves.
Please note that this is a “may” provision for the DLGF - not a “shall”. Therefore, the ITA will be meeting with the DLGF during this interim in order to determine what the policy, if any, will be for the department. Once we have that determination, the ITA will inform its members. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 June 2010 )
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Please join us today and unite with your fellow trustees to preserve and improve local government.