Trustee to host public meeting Tuesday
Jay Marks, the White River Trustee, is hosting a public forum Tuesday. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 PM in the Center Grove High School auditorium. CenterGroveInc.org will stream the video from the meeting.
It will be an “open mike” format with a panel that includes Mr. Marks, the township attorney, and the township account. Marks, who contends the public has not had an opportunity to have their questions answered, says this is a chance for them to “speak their minds” the panel will “answer what they can.”
Here are some examples of questions that residents might ask which this panel of three cannot authoritatively answer:
- Why are we creating a storm water district?
- How did you arrive at the number of police officers to add?
- What projections did you use for the various revenue sources?
- What are your revenue and expense projections for five year and ten years out?
- If the legislature does not put the 1% property tax cap into the Indiana Constitution and in fact rescinds the current cap, how high might my city property tax climb?
- How confident are you in the revenue projections you included in the plan?
- Who provided the property tax examples you used in the presentation?
Marks criticized the written format of the two earlier public meetings. In fact the vast majority of the submitted questions were answered at the meeting and all of the questions are posted on their web site. As for answers, we have video of many answers on our site. You can find additional information in the presentation from the session and the official proposal.
If you plan on attending the forum, you should do so with your eyes wide open. Keep in mind that the trustee lives and owns a business in the area scheduled to be annexed into Bargersville prior to the public vote. The position of the Reorganization committee in the earlier hearings was clear, they want it adopted. While Marks has never publicly expressed his option on the reorganization plan, his public statements and action actions seem to indicate he opposes it.
While we strongly support putting the reorganization proposal on the May ballot, we have not yet made any statements one whether or not the proposal should ultimately be adopted. We hope that the people attending will go to learn more about the reorganization, which is the stated objective, and not show up to just bitch, moan and complain about the proposal, as a number of residents did at the Monday meeting.
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4 Responses to “Trustee to host public meeting Tuesday”
Police staffing, good point. The Greenwood PD Chief is a good commander and leader. But let those who deal with dollars and cents, a police board, call the shots on the expanses. Likewise this is a concern with the FD’s merged or not.
Comment made on December 14th, 2009 at 7:01 pmWe encourage informed participation in all public meetings. Here is some additional information that may have an impact on Jay Marks reasons for hosting a town hall meeting:
1. Since the Reorganization Plan does away with Township Government he will lose his $38,000 a year job as Trustee.
2. He will not even be able to draw the $15,000 a year salary as a Greenwood City Council member if the Southwest WRT area is annexed by Bargersville since this is where his home is.
3. If the merger goes through and includes the Southwest area, only a portion of his property, assessed at about $380,000, is agricultural. He has a large portion that isn’t. Bargersville annexation would exempt all of the property from city taxes for 10 years where the merger only exempts the agricultural land.
Comment made on December 14th, 2009 at 9:35 pmWho pays for all of the new “increased salaries” (ref: Plan-Reorg-11-16-09.pdf)?
Comment made on December 15th, 2009 at 4:35 pmInitial salary levels and ranges recommended for the New City of Greenwood:
a. City Mayor – $85,800.00
b. City Clerk – $56,500.00
c. City Council Members – $15,700
d. City Judge – $47,500.00*
e. City Attorney – Between $72,000 and $82,000
f. City Controller – Between $72,000 and $82,000
g. City Engineer – Between $72,000 and $82,000
h. Board & Commission Members – The same as current compensation.
* Does not include income from court fees and probation duties.
The simple answer to your question Jim is that we will pay for them.
However, this assumes that the re-organization plan is passed next year by your fellow citizens and that the new city council votes to adopt the increases you note in your post.
None of what you noted takes affect unless the citizens in both current Greenwood and in current unincorporated WRT allow it to pass with their votes. We the citizens will have the final say about the re-organization plan. If you don’t like what you see, use your vote to voice your opinion.
Comment made on December 16th, 2009 at 9:54 amLeave a Comment