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Aug
11
Lake Co. Unigov?
Filed Under Lake County, Lake County Council, unigov | 2 Comments
Steve Dalton at Porter County Politics looks at a John Byrne post that asks if HEA 1001 was an attempt to create a Lake County unigov like Marion County’s by requiring the county council to review budgets for Lake County’s municipalities and other taxing units.
I can see unigov as being one way to solve problems with the budgets in Lake County by taking advantages of economies of scale.
But, will people in south and north counties be willing to let go of local control in favor a county-wide control for schools — which are exempt from HEA 1001 — and other government offices?
What governmental units would be at their best if they were county-wide?
Would a Marion County style unigov system work in Lake County?
Would a unigov system concentrate power in the hands of too few elected officials — namely the Lake County Council?
Feb
4
Don’t Cut Spending - Raise Taxes?
Filed Under East Chicago Indiana, Gary Indiana, Hammond Indiana, Income Tax, Lake County Council, Miller Beach Indiana, budget cut, local government reform, property tax crisis, property tax reform, quality of life, tax revolt, tax sale, taxes | 2 Comments
A newspaper column explains why Northwest Indiana will never pare back government spending and will always look to raising taxes until the pain causes people to revolt a la Gary’s Miller residents and the anti- Lake Co. income tax rebellion.
Writes those rebellious folks at MCC Legal Defense fund set up by Gary’s Miller Citizens Corp.:
It has been said that if you want something to disappear, tax it. The MCC Legal Defense Fund certainly does not want homeowners to disappear …
Northwest Indiana Times columnist Janet Moran suggests cutting Lake County spending could result in dire effects — cuts in police and fire response — and suggests that the solution might be to raise taxes on property owners who are perceived to have more than others.
Writes Janet Moran:
Cutting local spending as the entire panacea to this whole property tax mess is a stick-your-head-in-the-sand, simplistic approach to Lake County’s predicament. Absolutely, there’s a critical need to comb unnecessary spending. But predicted revenue shortages go deeper than that. There’s no quick, one-size-fits-all utopian fix.
An appraiser in LaPorte County recently made an apt observation that to provide $58,000 in property taxes for local schools it took 140 average homes in Michigan City, but only five homes in the city’s upscale Sheridan Beach.
Janet Moran seems to suggest raising taxes on all of Lake County more to raise funds for Hammond, East Chicago and Gary.
Does is this the start of an opinion offensive to gather support for higher property taxes aimed at Gary’s lake front Miller Beach neighborhood and other places perceived to have wealth?
Could this be an effort to soften up voters as the proponents of higher taxes try to resuscitate the loathed Lake County income tax?
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