From Larry Riley, Ball State University Professor, in the Muncie Star-Press:
One final question on the election ballot this fall will ask voters whether they want to reorganize and consolidate the city of Muncie and Delaware County into one entity.
Passage is a daunting proposition. Elected officials in both local governments are openly against modernization.
So much so that Muncie City Council and the Delaware County commissioners — after a committee of their own appointments submitted a plan with a rejection threshold — defied that plan and mandated that no less than two-thirds majority would be needed to pass it.
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If anything is going to help the effort succeed — and perhaps the initiative is doomed: most consolidation votes fail the first time around — these folks think the key is education.
“People will vote against this,” Kelly said, “if they don’t understand.”
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Really briefly, the reorganization plan highlights: Muncie’s mayor and city council, along with the county commissioners and county council, all go away, replaced by a 15-member panel, one member of which is elected county-wide as the chief executive officer.
Seven of the remaining 14 are elected from districts, the rest at-large. At least three districts will be from within Muncie’s current city limits and at least three outside the city.
None of the six towns in the county, nor the townships, are affected whatsoever. An “urban” zone, basically the existing Muncie proper, is retained, and the Muncie Fire Department and city police department will continue to provide those respective services in the urban zone and be funded only from the urban zone property and income taxes.
A “rural” zone, the unincorporated area of the county, also is retained, and will be taxed at a lower rate for services such as fire and police, which won’t change how those services currently are rendered.
Then all the county will be taxed for common services, such as property tax assessment, the courts, emergency medical services (which also charges fees), criminal justice (including the jail).
The plan also mandates hiring a credentialed municipal manager to act as chief operating officer and a qualified chief financial officer to manage the fiscal side.
I’ll review the FAQ later, but meanwhile suggest something else besides education will eventually drive local government modernization: lack of money.
Though the city still has a healthy — and unusual — balance, despite some big spending plans, the county is slowly strangling.
Last week, county council’s finance committee recommended appropriating — from where, I’m not sure — an additional $258,000 out of the general fund, which pays most services.
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http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012306240002
