From the Kokomo Tribune:
Eastern and Northwestern voters should reorganize their townships by school boundaries.
We’ve got it good in Howard County. After losing a quarter of our employment over the past decade, we learned Monday the Kokomo metro area – which includes all of Howard and Tipton counties – added 1,200 jobs in the last 12 months.
Local governments function well, too. Property tax bills are mailed on time. Every resident has access to a library. And our five public school systems nurture achievement while keeping an eye on spending.
It’s understandable then that some here don’t recognize as needed the recommendations of the Commission on Local Government Reform. But within the last year, the commission’s suggestions for government consolidation have gotten the attention of locals.
Count Center Township Trustee Jean Lushin among them, and the boards of Clay, Howard and Liberty townships as well.
The Ervin and Union township boards? Not so much. Yet despite their failure to respond to a proposal to consolidate Howard County townships and observe school corporation boundaries, voters in the Eastern and Northwestern districts will decide the issue.
A survey of 452 registered voters discovered 61 percent were in favor of some sort of township merger, Lushin told us last summer. And 35 percent of those advocating consolidation supported reducing townships within school districts.
Such a plan was adopted Feb. 23. State law required the participating township boards to vote on the proposal and publicize their decisions by March 23.
The Ervin board turned down the plan, but didn’t announce its vote. Union took no action. Consequently, a consolidation referendum in Clay, Ervin and Howard townships, and Jackson, Liberty and Union townships will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.
The earliest the six townships could merge into two governments is Jan. 1, 2015.
Though we believe Howard County easily could coordinate fire protection, maintain the cemeteries and take care of poor relief, we recognize Hoosiers vote from their front porches.
If their trash gets collected, if their streets get paved and plowed, they believe all is right with the world. As evidenced by the study committee survey, consolidating our townships appears more palatable to voters than the elimination of township government altogether.
We urge Northwestern and Eastern school district voters to approve the mergers.
http://kokomotribune.com/opinion/x1828362657/Merge-our-townships
