Merger vote to move to November?

With what appears to be strong opposition to the reorganization effort of Greenwood and White River Township the Greenwood council and the township board are looking to buy some time to “sell” the idea to residents and to allow time for legal action to be completed. It looks like action will be taken to move it to the November ballot. If moved to November the reorganization plan will not take effect until January 2012.  The change also allows time for the formation of a political action committee to promote the reorganization effort. By state law no taxpayer dollars could be used to form or support such an effort. It will be interesting to see whom and what companies fund such an effort.

On the annexation front, Greenwood has appealed a judges ruling about the validity of the Bargersville annexation of an area along SR 135, from the current Bargersville city limits north to Stones Crossing Road. A 2005 Indiana law says that a town (Bargersville is a town, Greenwood is a city) may annex an area within the three mile buffer zone of a city as long as the town has the “consent” of at least 51% of all landowners. Greenwood contends that the “waivers” that Bargersville made residents sign in order to receive sewer service is not “consent” to annexation. The waivers state that residents will not fight (remonstrance against) annexation. Greenwood is appealing the ruling of a Montgomery County Judge who cited Montana law and looked up the definitions of “consent” and “waiver” in a thesaurus in making his decision.

Greenwood also plans on filing legal action against the Bargersville annexation of 13 square miles of the southern portion of the township. The city contends the annexation should not have taken place since the reorganization process was underway before the annexation process began. The annexation went into effect January 2, 2010.  attorney Nicholas Kile says the action is complete and cannot be challenged. No date has been set for Greenwood to file such an action.

By moving the issue to the November ballot township voters will not face two issues that will increase their taxes on one ballot. The ballot will contain a referendum on building a $23 million expansion to the Johnson County Jail.  Until recently the May ballot was also expected to contain a referendum to raise property taxes to provide additional funds to Center Grove Schools. However it now appears that referendum will be moved to a special election in June at an additional cost to Center Grove residents of about $50,000.

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