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INDIANAPOLIS – Township government would cease, county sheriffs would no longer be elected, and more than half of all school districts would be consolidated into others.
Those are just three of 27 recommendations made Tuesday by the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform, a bipartisan group of seven Hoosiers led by Indiana Supreme Court Justice Randall T. Shepard and former Gov. Joe Kernan.
“We believe they make common sense. We believe that they are right for Indiana, and if not now, when?” Kernan asked. “This is not meant to be a criticism of anyone who is serving in public office in Indiana today. This is a criticism – it’s an indictment – of the structure within which they serve.”
The changes could ultimately reduce the number of local government units from 3,086 to 1,931 and decrease the number of elected officeholders from more than 11,000 to about 5,200.
“This is pretty strong medicine,” Shepard said. “In the short run what we are proposing will be disruptive – even painful.”
But he said it’s important that Hoosiers move forward with the recommendations and not let them die of inaction, as has happened with advice from previous panels.
“We can’t afford to make mistakes like that again, unless we are willing to pay higher bills,” Shepard said. “The status quo in Indiana of local government simply isn’t good enough. Indiana can either embolden itself, designing new arrangements for its prosperity and future or it can trudge along under a system of governance designed 150 years ago.
“We think now is the time for change. It will only happen if the people of Indiana insist on it.”
The commission was appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels during the height of a property tax furor in the summer. Its members included two from Fort Wayne: John Stafford, director of the Community Research Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, and retired Lincoln National Corp. Chairman Ian Rolland.
The group conducted six public forums around the state drawing 700 Hoosiers, and the panel’s Web site received 1,200 citizen comments. But all of the deliberation was done in private.
Stafford and Rolland said it was amazing how closely aligned the members of the commission were from the beginning and that even the more contentious recommendations were supported by the evidence and testimony before the panel.
Rolland noted that businesses reorganize all the time, putting more efficient and modern systems into place.
“We’re working with a government now designed well over 100 years ago with only some modest change along the way,” he said. “There has been no chance to really examine the whole spectrum of government. I just think we need to go through that a lot more often.”
Virtually all of the recommendations could be handled statutorily by having the Indiana General Assembly change the law, such as replacing the three county commissioners with one elected county chief executive.
But a constitutional amendment would be required to abolish several county elected offices and transfer the duties to the county executive branch. These include county auditor, treasurer, recorder, surveyor and coroner.
It was unclear Tuesday what happens next – or who specifically pushes the plan. In fact, when that question was asked, Kernan, Shepard and Daniels all sheepishly stood away from the lectern while laughing nervously.
Daniels later said the public must demand the changes and he hopes some legislators take the chance to write their names in the Indiana history books by championing some of the recommendations.
The governor declined to talk about specific suggestions in the report.
“I support the thrust of this very much,” he said. “You want to know why property taxes are too high, here’s the answer. You want to know how we’re going to get property taxes down and keep them that way, here’s the road map.”
Daniels could add some of the ideas – such as the state taking over funding the trial court system – to his own property tax relief proposal set to be debated in the 2008 session, but he said in general these recommendations will take several years to implement.
“I was surprised by the number of local officials they propose be eliminated,” said Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne. “That requires some thought. I’m not sure what the right answer is on that.”
He said there were no specifics on cost savings, which will have to be a big part of any discussion surrounding the recommendations.
“I understand why they want to move forward quickly, … but it’s such a dramatic change that it’s too early to say,” Long said. “I want to hear from local officials and constituents.”
House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, pointed out that other commissions have tried and failed to overhaul the structure of government in Indiana, but he seemed supportive of some of the ideas.
He encouraged all three candidates running for governor in 2008 – Republican Daniels and Democrats Jim Schellinger and Jill Long Thompson – to be precise on where they stand on the issues.
“The bulk of this will be in future legislatures and future elections,” Bauer said.
nkelly@jg.net
