Government Reform

Indiana's system of local government was designed in the 1850s, with more than 3,200 units of government and 10,000 local officeholders. This was appropriate for an era of travel by horseback, but today it means inefficiency, duplicative bureaucracies and little accountability for taxing and spending decisions.

Local governments face challenging fiscal times, with caps on property taxes being implemented from the state level. To avoid dramatic budget cuts or local income tax increases, the structure of local government must be overhauled. The Central Indiana Corporate Partnership supports several proposals to consolidate local government, to allow it to work smaller and smarter:

• The consolidation of all county elected officers into a single, elected County Executive
• The complete elimination of township government (with its duties falling under the jurisdiction of the County Executive)
• The merger of many school districts, to achieve an optimal district-wide enrollment of 2,000+ students.
• Moving municipal and school board elections to an even year cycle, sparing the expense of odd-year elections and improving voter participation.
• Regional revenue-sharing and policies to compensate counties for state and federal tax-exempt properties within their jurisdictions.
• Whenever possible, giving voters more power to approve further reforms by referendum.

Many of these recommendations are discussed in greater detail in the December 2007 report of the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform, found here.