by Karl Kurtz
A blue-ribbon Commission on Local Government Reform appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels and co-chaired by a former governor and the state's chief justice of the supreme court released a report earlier this week that may be of interest to other states. The report calls for sharply reducing the number of local elected officials by replacing three-member elected county commissions with a single elected county executive, eliminating township governments and appointing sheriffs.
Indiana's local government structure was designed in the 1850s and has changed little since then. Commenting that the design of local government had skipped the 20th century, Gov. Daniels said, “If you want to get property taxes down and keep ’em down, this commission has given us a terrific road map for doing that.”
Legislative leaders, though, said that the proposal was too large and complex and fraught with political potholes to consider during the legislature's short session in 2008. They said that they are more likely to take it up in 2009.
Here are links to the commission's report and an Indianapolis Star story and Masson's Blog about it.
Indiana county map by Geology.com
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