In the perennial exercise of labeling winners and losers in the legislative process, local government reform should not be overlooked among the latter. To that column, add taxpayers, who continue to be poorly served by a government structure that includes 1,008 townships with more than 4,000 elected officials.

Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, made sure his colleagues didn’t leave the Statehouse without a reminder. “One of the things we should have done is make our government better and make it cost less,” he said, noting that the session began and ended with the same number of school districts, township trustees, boards and commissions.

“If ever there was a time to save money – not merely to pass a budget that’s balanced – but to save money, this was the time. On this one point, the governor was correct. He has gone silent on the issue. I am not going silent on the issue.”

Delaney said his constituents “are not pleased by the tens of millions of dollars of surpluses held in local pots, local silos, local turfs that cannot be brought to serve the public despite the national economic emergency. That money must stay in those pots for whatever purpose those local officials later decide to use it for.”

Discussion of the two-year budget rightly dominated the special session, but the failure of some sound local reform measures cast a shadow over legislators’ efforts to match shrinking revenue to spending needs. Taxpayers are wise enough to know that the relief the General Assembly granted with property tax restructuring in 2008 only shifted the cost. Across the state, they’ve seen wheel taxes, local option income taxes and user fees instituted to make up for lost property tax revenue.

What they overlooked was the opportunity to cut costs elsewhere and free dollars for the services they want and need. Mysmartgov.org, a bipartisan group of business and labor representatives, advocated for recommendations of the Kernan-Shepard local government reform study. Legislation included measures to encourage library district consolidations, eliminate township trustees, restructure county government and more. More than two dozen bills were filed to implement the recommendations; only a measure to establish satellite voting centers was adopted. The governor vetoed it.

Property tax caps and declining revenues are now driving home the need for reform. In Muncie, two fire stations have been closed. In Vanderburgh County, a local homestead credit was eliminated. In Gary, 100 city workers were laid off. Library hours were cut in Anderson.

It’s important for taxpayers, who have been generally unenthusiastic about the government reform efforts, to know that cuts in services aren’t solely the result of a national recession. Cuts could have been reduced, as Delaney pointed out, if lawmakers had long ago taken the tough stance of improving outdated practices.

Gov. Mitch Daniels might have suspended his quest for restructuring, but he hasn’t abandoned it. “We’ll be back with local government reform,” he told reporters. “We’ll have to talk about exactly which aspects and visit with the proponents and adversaries and see if we can find a way to move forward there. We should never ever skip an opportunity or a session, short or long, to try to make positive change.”

Daniels, Delaney and others who agree shouldn’t wait for next January. Now, while Hoosiers are experiencing economic pain, they should be reminded of how local government could serve them better and at less cost.