CORE: KERNAN SHOULD BEGIN HIS CONSOLIDATION EFFORTS AT HOME

KERNAN SHOULD BEGIN HIS CONSOLIDATION EFFORTS AT HOME

September 4, 2012 CORE2012.NET

St. Joseph’s County lags far behind Vanderburgh County when it comes to efficiencies

Recently former Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan of South Bend, Ind., a city located in St. Joseph’s County, endorsed the question on the ballot to “reorganize” the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County governments. This endorsement should come as no surprise at all considering Mr. Kernan helped author the Kernan-Shepard report “Streamlining Local Government” in December of 2007.

However, not a single Indiana county — including Kernan’s own home county — has ratified the Kernan-Shepard initiatives in full. We at Citizens Opposed to Reorganization in Evansville(CORE) believe Mr. Kernan, a former mayor of South Bend, should follow Vanderburgh County’s example and begin efforts to find efficiencies in his own hometown before instructing us what we should be doing here.

We now take the opportunity to demonstrate to local taxpayers just how well our civic leaders here at home have already done in finding efficiencies and eliminating duplication of services when compared to other Indiana communities. St. Joseph’s County, which is on the border with Michigan and represents a 5-hour drive from Evansville, is a shining example of how well Vanderburgh County has already done finding efficiencies in local government. For instance:

* St. Joseph’s County has TEN city/county/town government entities. The cities are Mishawaka and South Bend, both with mayors and completely different city administrations. St. Joseph County is the county arm of local government. And the towns are: Indian Village, Lakeville, New Carisle, North Liberty, Osceola, Roseland, and Walkerton. Vanderburgh County only has 1 incorporated City (Evansville), 1 incorporated Town (Darmstadt) and obviously Vanderburgh County government. Incidentally, the Town of Darmstadt is not part of the proposed unification plan.

* St. Joseph’s County has at least NINE publicly funded law enforcement agencies, all with a chief. Those agencies are: St. Joseph’s County, Town of Roseland, Town of Lakeville, City of Mishawaka, Town of New Carlisle, City of South Bend, Town of Walkerton, Town of North Liberty, and Osceola. It should also be noted that St. Joseph’s County has a Sheriff, a Chief, and an Assistant Chief. Vanderburgh County has only two law enforcement agencies, the City of Evansville Police Department and the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office. It must be noted that neither of these two departments locally are a part of the consolidation picture for the next 10 years. The University of Notre Dame also has a police force, but we have been told it is privately funded and does not take tax dollars. That brings the number of law enforcement agencies in St. Joseph’s County to TEN!

* St. Joseph’s County has SIX school corporations (John Glenn; New Prairie United; Penn-Harris-Madison; City of Mishawaka; South Bend Community; and Union-North United school corporations). Vanderburgh County only has 1. We obviously have already discovered efficiencies and eliminated duplication of services, while South Bend has not.

* St. Joseph’s County has FOUR Library Boards (Mishawaka, New Carlisle, Walkerton and St. Joseph County). Vanderburgh County has 1.

* St. Joseph’s County has TWO Redevelopment Commissions (Mishawaka and South Bend). Vanderburgh County has 1.

CORE has said for months that most of the opportunities for cost savings and finding efficiencies in Vanderburgh County have already been capitalized by local taxpayers and elected leaders. Mr. Kernan’s hometown provides a shining example of how well Vanderburgh County sits compared to other communities thoughout the state.

In the above examples, St. Joseph’s County has 31 taxing units compared to Vanderburgh County’s 8. And of those 8, the only “duplication” of services would be from the Evansville Police Department, Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Department, and the Town of Darmstadt, all of which are specifically NOT a part of the reorganization question on the ballot.

We at CORE remind voters that the current reorganization plan puts too much power into too few hands. Reorganization would lead to LESS REPRESENTATION for voters and therefore REDUCE ACCOUNTABILITY. We have already demonstrated the ability to find efficiencies and eliminate duplication of services without gutting local government.

In a letter to newspaper editors throughout the state of Indiana, the Association of Indiana Counties — a nonprofit organization — had this to say about the Kernan-Shepard Report:

“Taxpayers should be wary of efforts to eliminate county elected government officials and replace elected positions with appointed people. If it comes down to democracy vs. appointed bureaucracy, the choice seems abundantly clear: democracy. A commission appointed by the Governor to find efficiencies in government recommends doing away with many county elected officials. The report has some positive recommendations but eliminating the opportunity for taxpayers to serve their communities is not one of them. One size or form of government does not fit all communities.

“Framers of Indiana’s Constitution designed county government to carry out state laws and policies. To create a balance of power between state government and the citizens throughout the state, the designers of the State Constitution believed voters should directly elect people from their county to administer state laws. Why should that be changed? No evidence has been produced that appointed people will do a better job than elected people. In 1851 it would have been easy to allow the state to appoint people in each county to administer state laws. However, framers of the State Constitution must have been concerned about too much power being concentrated in state government or in the hands of too few people.”

We feel these comments about the Kernan-Shepard report also apply to the reorganization question on the ballot.

We ask that you VOTE NO in NOvember!

For a link to taxing units in St. Joseph’s County, please visit:

http://www.in.gov/legislative/pdf/STJOSEPH11.PDF

FOOT NOTE: This article was written and submitted to the CCO by members of the CORE committee.