Dec
12
Times’ Kiesling: Blow Up System!
Filed Under good government, government reform, government waste, property tax crisis | Leave a Comment
You know there is something wrong in local government when an employee of a mainstream institution — such as a local newspaper columnist — calls for blowing up the current system and starting from new.
Writes the Northwest Indiana Times’ Mark Kiesling:
Indiana is ready for reform. If it does not reform, it can continue to expect the brain drain that now saps so much of the home-grown talent that is driven elsewhere by Indiana’s unwillingness to change due to selfish political considerations. …
I predict squealing like that of a thousand stuck pigs and righteous indignation that this removes the voter from the “public servant.” That is bull. How much farther removed from the voter can our elected officials be, the ones who fill their own cars at county gas troughs and cry like babies when they can’t get a county-owned car to drive?
Related Post: Indiana Tackles Local Government Reform
Dec
11
Post-Trib: No New Taxes!
Filed Under COIT, Income Tax, Lake County, Lake County Council, Northwest Indiana, good government, government waste, political machines, property tax crisis, tax revolt, taxes | Leave a Comment
From Sunday’s Post-Tribune editorial:
It’s time Lake County residents say no to more taxes until someone can ensure us we’re not getting robbed. We understand the need for an income tax to provide property tax relief, but we believe the real relief needs to come from reform of government — at the county level, for starters.
HT: BCRS.
Dec
7
More Could Be Filling Up?
Filed Under George Van Til, Gerry Scheub, Income Tax, Lake County, good government, government waste, property tax crisis, tax revolt | Leave a Comment
Lake County surveyor George Van Til admits filling up his personal vehicle with Lake County government gasoline because his take home car was taken away after he let his son use a Lake County truck to drive to school.
George Van Til also blamed political opponents for stirring up the controversy, despite the fact that Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub calls Van Til’s “first transgression” — allowing his teen son to use a county vehicle — an event that makes the latest news “major.”
Lake County income tax supporters are probably lamenting the news that Lake County officials could be fueling their private cars at public expense because it refocuses taxpayers’ mind on how Lake County government entities and municipalities keep increasing spending at levels that exceed inflation, according to an Indiana state Department of Local Government Finance report.
There’s no ordinance against public officials filling up at public expense, according to a Northwest Indiana Times new report.
County Commissioner Gerry Scheub, D-Schererville, said Thursday a county ordinance regulating the use of county vehicles and gasoline doesn’t specifically prohibit county officials from using the pumps, but “that is just common sense.” Scheub said he will ask that the ordinance be amended to include the prohibition.
Writes Bill Dolan in the Northwest Indiana Times:
Van Til said he didn’t need to fuel his private vehicles with county gas until last month when he gave up his take-home car, a Mercury Marquis, leased, fueled and maintained at public expense.
He said he used county gas in his personal vehicles because he didn’t have money in his budget to receive mileage reimbursement.
Van Til said he didn’t consider that to be against the rules because he knows of other county officials and employees who do it.
George Van Til’s fill ups probably wouldn’t be a major deal in the grand scheme of things, since mileage reimbursement would probably cost just as much as the gas pumped from the Lake County pumps.
But, during these days of ever increasing property tax increases, tax sales, foreclosures, personal financial pain, and talk of a brand new Lake County income tax, it does raise questions in overburdened taxpayers’ minds whether the current government leaders are committed to cutting back government spending.
More troubling is the assertion that there might be other officials filling up at taxpayers’ expense — are they also getting mileage reimbursement? Lake County’s leaders need to make sure that isn’t happening.
There is some good news — Lake County’s surveyor is requesting money to join the Shared Ethics Advisory Commission.
