Providing the details about a consolidated Evansville-Vanderburgh County government that opponents want in advance — including a budget and tax rates — would be a tricky proposition complicated by legal obstacles.
The wisdom of trying to decide those details before a government takes office is another issue altogether.
Opponents of the Nov. 6 referendum on consolidation argue that a budget, tax rates and salaries for a merged government should have been provided to Vanderburgh County voters before they cast their ballots. Otherwise, voters are being asked to buy a pig in a poke.
"Proponents of this plan (of reorganization) call it a skeleton plan with little detail and an outline of what final government would be. They expect you to trust them to fill in the blanks after you vote on it, and they will let you know what they decide," said Bruce Ungethiem, co-chairman of Citizens Opposed to Reorganization in Evansville.
Consolidation supporters counter the Plan of Reorganization was intended as a framework for a new government that would be elected in 2014 and take office in January 2015. They say specific policy decisions should be left to those elected to leadership positions in the merged government rather than unelected individuals. Candidates for the new government's 15-member Common Council and mayor would have to discuss such details in the 2014 campaign if they wanted to win, they say.
"If we had put all those details in there, (opponents) would have said it's inappropriate for the reasons we're citing," says Becky Kasha, chairwoman of the citizens committee that crafted a consolidation proposal in 2010. "Whatever's not in there, they would say they want to see — or they would have said, 'Oh look, you've tied the hands of the future governing body.'"
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