The Complications of Consolidation

Why it is important to include more participants in the merger discussion

The White River Township (WRT) Board should seriously consider expanding the number of participants in the consolidation study. (Consolidation is the actual word used in the legislation that enabled what has popularly come be to known as “merger.” As a practical matter they can be used interchangeably.) Doing so has the potential to significantly reduce the risk and cost of the effort and may result in a better outcome.

Perhaps the biggest concern, as we begin the process, is the possibility that the WRT government may be dissolved during the course of the consolidation study. Over the last two years, many township assessor positions were eliminated by the action of the legislature. Others, such as the one in WRT, were eliminated by the voters in November’s election. Governor Mitch Daniels considers the elimination of the remaining components of township government as “unfinished business” and would like the legislature to address it in the 2009 session. While there is no way to know if they will take up the issue or the outcome should they choose to, there is a very real potential that they could vote to dissolve all township government, including the governing Boards sometime in calendar year 2009.

Why is this a concern? Because, in establishing the consolidation study team the WRT Board is the “Appointing Authority” for the members representing the interest of the citizens of WRT. When an appointing authority no longer exists, their appointees loose their authority as well. If we are only conducting a study with one other entity, such as Greenwood, that would either kill the effort outright or leave the citizens of WRT without representation on the study committee.

The risk could be mitigated slightly with the addition of a third party, such as Bargersville. While the citizens of WRT would end up in essentially the same position, with no representation on the study committee, at least there would be two remaining parties who may be able to continue the study to some conclusion that could be put before the voters.

The risk could be further reduced by including representation from Johnson County. Now in the case of the elimination of the WRT Board there would be three parties left in the discussion and some semblance of balance of interests, assuming that the County could act in some way as a surrogate for the missing WRT members, acting as a “neutral” third party between Greenwood and Bargersville.

Bringing in more parties has the added advantage of broadening the question from a very narrow “Should WRT merger with Greenwood?” to a broader concern of “What’s the best way to provide governmental services for the currently unincorporated areas of White River Township?” This is a much better approach as it naturally leads the study committee to consider more creative options and to truly focus on the benefits for WRT. The more parties involved in the discussion the better the potential outcome. I’ve already mentioned adding Johnson County and Bargersville, but there may be others who should also be asked to join in the conversation. Remember, the purpose of the enabling legislation is to “consolidate” governmental entities and is very broad in its scope. It is not limited to one-to-one, three-way or even four-way discussions. It can be as broad as those participating think make sense.

The final reason for broadening the discussion is cost sharing. The cost of the study is distributed in proportion to the number of residents in the participating entities. If we are talking only with Greenwood, the costs would be split about evenly, given the balance between our populations. Bring in Bargersville and they would have to pay a share, albeit a smaller share than the other two parties. Finally, if you include Johnson County you can dilute the cost even further as the County would take on part of the cost.

There may be creative solutions that I have not considered to the problem of “the disappearing township board,” but it is something that needs to be considered as we move into the next phase of the consolidation study. Regardless, more participants mean more options and potentially a better solution. Finally, finding ways to share the cost is always a factor that should be considered in any action taken by local government.

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