It's one sentence in a 26-page plan for consolidating Evansville and Vanderburgh County governments, but a televised debate Wednesday night gave voters a glimpse of the arguments it could spark if they say yes to merger.
"Any increases or decreases in Tax Rates that are the direct result of this Plan shall be phased in over a three (3) year period, beginning with the year 2015," says the Plan of Reorganization at the center of the referendum vote to be held Nov. 6.
A consolidated government's first election would be held in 2014.
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The phase-in provision, Winnecke said, was intended to do two things.
It is a reference, the mayor said, to the expenses of 15 local government agencies already administered and jointly funded by city and county governments.
"The sharing of those will be phased in over a three-year period (if consolidation is approved)," he said.
The joint agencies are funded in most cases using ratios determined decades ago by each local government's executives. The phase-in provision means their costs will be "equalized," Winnecke said.
The phase-in provision — Article 7.1.1 in the reorganization plan — also was intended as a safeguard in case future mayoral administrations and Common Councils prove themselves to be big spenders unconstrained by frugality or prudence. Such elected officials, Winnecke said, "may have a less conservative view on how to spend money."
But the phase-in provision doesn't actually say any of that.
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