Paying it forward, one kidney at a timeWhen Rick Ruzzamenti of Riverside, Calif., made the somewhat impulsive decision to donate a kidney, he probably didn’t know his selfless decision would lead not to one donation but 30.Proponents of Indiana’s antiquated township government argue that townships are the epitome of small government, close to the people. So townships must be good.
Any effort to consolidate their duties, township advocates say, would result in bigger, badder government performing those functions.
What is “bad” government? There is no single definition, but many Hoosiers would most likely agree that government officials are not serving constituents well if they:
•Raise taxes as much as possible whether or not the government needs the money, keeping the surplus – not as part of a rainy day fund strategy, just holding on to it.
•Hire and pay their relatives with little outside oversight.
•Submit incomplete and inaccurate financial information required by the state.
•Spend an inordinate percentage of their budget on administrative costs.
•Have few public meetings.
Those are just some of the characteristics of – Indiana township government.
Some of those issues have been raised for years. More questions and concerns arose after Indiana townships – well, most of them – filed 2009 spending information electronically in 2010, to comply with a new state law. More than 13 percent didn’t file.
As Dan Stockman’s Sunday story explained, most northeast township financial reports filed for 2009 contained some type of basic accounting flaw. And eight of the region’s townships simply failed to file.
The problems are not a simple matter of unqualified or unethical people holding office. They represent a systemwide failure, a level of government that does not have adequate oversight and adequate citizen involvement.
There are exceptions. Some of the township offices that handle poor relief in major Indiana cities – including Wayne Township in Allen County – are more professional, accountable and transparent. And any successful effort to abolish townships and move their duties to other levels of government will need to address how to offer poor relief in areas that need it most.
But for the most part, township government – established to run schools and provide a seat of government within a day’s roundtrip horseback ride – is simply antiquated and expensive, lacks modern-day ethics and accountability, and is eminently replaceable.
