From the Indianapolis Business Journal:
Former Governor Mitch Daniels argued for years that Indiana had too much local government — a costly maze of overlapping townships, taxing districts and city and county entities that took shape before the Civil War. The Republican even recruited his Democratic predecessor to help make the case.
A prime example was the factory town of Muncie, seat of Delaware County. With 37 entities taxing a declining population and a projected deficit of $5.6 million next year, the county is “ground zero” for the problems Daniels targeted, Ball State University economist Michael Hicks said. Merging Muncie and Delaware County could save at least $7 million a year in efficiencies and improved services, he said, as Indianapolis and Marion County did by combining four decades ago.
Yet, when voters considered a merger last November, almost two-thirds said no.
“This is one of those issues where bipartisanship and a great good-government rationale isn’t enough,” said Daniels, 64, now president of Purdue University in West Lafayette. “It’s easy enough if you’re passionate in defending the status quo to persuade enough people to stand pat and not take a chance on something new.”
The failed referendum and other thwarted efforts in Indiana show how difficult it is to shrink local government, even with political support at the highest levels and obvious taxpayer savings. Before leaving office in January, Daniels, a popular two-term governor in a state known for its common-sense fiscal policies, pushed streamlining government for five years.
Entrenched interests
With entrenched interests protecting jobs, only a handful of changes were made. Most of the restructuring that Daniels and his allies sought either died in the legislature or was never seriously considered, and only two of five ballot measures to consolidate local governments have passed.
The commission also proposed reducing the number of school districts by setting a minimum student population of 2,000, an idea that went nowhere in a state whose celebration of small towns was immortalized in the basketball movie “Hoosiers.”
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See the lengthy article here:
http://www.ibj.com/indianas-long-fight-for-less-government-has-politicians-protecting-own/PARAMS/article/44339
