ASSESSORS: Townships’ future in doubt?

By Brandi Watters

June 28, 2008 10:41 pm

— ANDERSON — Later this month, township assessors will drop from the landscape of rural Indiana, and county officials will step in to handle their work. It begs the question: Do we need township government?
In December 2007, former Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall Shepard of the Indiana Supreme Court released what’s now known as the Kernan-Shepard report — a 46-page report suggesting the streamlining of local government. More specifically, the report said that Indiana could do without township governments.
The report alleges that the township government model worked for the 1800s, but does not meet the needs of 21st-century Hoosiers.
Those lobbying to keep townships alive disagree.
“When you talk about an old form of government, cities, towns and counties are old forms of government,” argued Debbie Driskell, executive director for the Indiana Township Association. “States are old forms. Just because it’s old, it doesn’t make it obsolete.”
According to Driskell, townships predated Indiana’s statehood and were the brainchild of a founding father. “The concept of townships was determined by Thomas Jefferson. They were roughly six miles square. He simply wanted to build a grid where properties could be then subdivided, and governments were laid out that way.”
Driskell argued that the consolidation of township services could lead to some Hoosiers feeling neglected.
“If you look at the federal government and what a huge animal that is and how when we centralize things to the federal government, the states then have to fight to get federal dollars back to their state. When you centralize things at the state level, the counties have to fight to get funds back to their counties.
“The more you remove services from the people, the more small, rural communities have to fight,” she said.
Fire protection, Driskell said, is one service provided by township government that cannot be centralized without lowering the level of service provided to rural communities. She argued that emergency response times would vary greatly in urban and rural areas.
This, Driskell said, is not fair to rural families. “If the county is responsible for fire protection, and they are to distribute services equally, then if I’m living in Wayne Township, wouldn’t I demand that I also have a reasonable time of three minutes if Noblesville has a response time of three minutes?”
Townships, according to Driskell, are also charged with poor relief. They assist township residents with housing, food and utility costs when needed, and she said the county has no such obligation. “The first job that was charged to townships was to be the overseer for the poor, which is what we’re still doing. That’s what’s distinguishing us from counties and cities. They are not charged with caring for the poor.”
While Driskell said she didn’t believe the elimination of township assessors was a precursor to the dissolution of townships, others argue it is. Harvey Stitt, assessor for Van Buren Township, believes the decision will be made in the next election. “If Mitch Daniels is in, the trustees are the next to go.”