I won’t comment on the merits of the debate because my work has me work with township officials in various ways from time to time. But I don’t think it’s out of bounds for me to observe that township officials are shaping up to become the Official Sacrificial Lamb of the 2007-2008 Property Tax Crisis ™.
Very few people outside of government know what they do. There seem to be an awful lot of them. They’re of local government, and Gov. Daniels keeps saying that local government is to blame. And, damn it, these property taxes hurt. Someone’s gotta pay.
Mind you, I’m not saying that the benefits of eliminating the township positions won’t outweigh the costs. But, I’ve seen precious little identification of the services provided by township officials or numbers setting forth how much money might be saved by shifting their duties to someone else. That’s just not how the discussions have gone.
Well gosh, you mean you want more than just “assessor bad, consolidation good – trust us”?
I’m far too cynical!
Snicker… I’m sure they are working on a themesong (similar to what the various tv stations had for the “War on Terror”)
I actually had reason to contact my Township Trustee a few years back, and they were amazingly helpful – cut through all sorts of redtape and took care of the issue (had to do with my being fined for construction debris a neighbor had dumped behind my fence). I was just blown away at the idea that they were there to help me with the issue.
So, Brenda, in the forthcoming “War on Townships” which side of the barricades will YOU be on?
I think that’s all we’re gonna get, Donno. “Assessor bad, consolidation good!” Doesn’t quite have the same ring as “no taxation without representation” but it is close. ;)
Four legs good! Two legs bad!
OT question: How come some people have gravatars and some people don’t?
To have a gravatar you have to set up an account at gravatar.com.
Thanks, Doug. I thought that maybe some people had gravatars and they just weren’t showing up. Didn’t some people have an “M” for a time, or did I dream that?
The “M” is back.
I didn’t do anything to the gravatar set up — for me the “M” didn’t go away. Not sure what might have changed.
I think that my whiz-bang new laptop has a problem with your M-blem. I can see the “M” just fine on other computers.
For the record, I see all the images for people who have gravatars, but for those who don’t I see the…uh… “image not found” red x.
Brenda: Same thing happens to me, but only on my laptop. On other computers, the “M” comes up for people who don’t hava gravatars.