Infusion of accountability for township government

<p><strong>(Terre Haute) Tribune-Star</strong></p><p>Indiana’s system of township government is both inefficient and ineffective. Few have been able to mount a persuasive argument that it’s not.</p><p>Despite that, reform has been a hard to achieve. Of the 11 bills introduced in the recently concluded session of the Indiana General Assembly, only one passed. The others didn’t get past the committee stage.</p><p>The bill that did survive, however, is a good one. It was signed into law by Gov. Eric Holcomb.</p><p>Townships with seemingly massive budget surpluses will now need to submit plans to show the public how the money will be used.</p><p>The legislation authored by Rep. Cindy Ziemke, R-Batesville, requires townships to file a three-year capital improvement plan with the state if their surplus is 150 percent over the annual budget estimate and more than $200,000. The plan would affect 88 of Indiana’s 1,005 townships.</p><p>The goal of the law is to inject greater accountability for township funds to the taxpayers.</p><p>The principal purpose of township government is to supply funding for fire service where necessary, maintain cemeteries and provide poor relief to residents. But a number of townships have been shown to collect large amounts of money from taxpayers while rarely putting those funds to productive use.</p><p>Miley reported that last year, townships across the state ended with balances totaling $481.3 million. On average, township trustees end their year with a surplus of 111 percent over their adopted budgets.</p><p>Across the state, townships had budgets totaling $389.3 million in 2017. But they had a total cash balance of $453.6 million, more than 16 percent above their budgeted amounts. That was enough for 14 months of operating revenues, as much as seven times the generally accepted threshold for government units.</p><p>Last year, the number rose as townships recorded total budgets of $402 million and cash balances of $472 million, according to records kept by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.</p><p>Even lawmakers reluctant to take on the township system recognized the problem and were willing to take action to address it. If a township is amassing a huge surplus, at least it now has to explain why the money is there and what it will eventually be used for.</p><p>Additional reforms in township government will take time. But this law is substantive and brings more accountability to the system.</p>