WRT Trustee comments on budget
White River Township Trustee Mark Messick provided these comments to CenterGroveInc. They are being presented unedited.
Mr. Messick says:
After two workshops, a public hearing and finally an adoption meeting the township has a new budget. The township board and the trustee worked together to arrive at appropriations of $123,580.00 for the Township Fund and $71,400.00 for the Township Assistance Fund.
- The board and trustee have set the tax levy and tax rate at 0 for the second year in a row.
- The approved appropriations of $194,980.00 is $48,800.00 less than the 2011 budget of $243,780.00.
- While, there will be no expansion in hours or services to the community the office is still committed to providing the citizens the very best township government in the county.
- The board did disagree with the trustee on more than just the number of hours the office would be open. The board will limit the purchase of new computers to two verses the three requested.
- Additionally, the board cut the funding of professional services in order to prohibit the paying of the invoices from the City of Greenwood for the cost of the Reorganization Committee’s work. The statue on reorganization would imply that the township has no choice but to pay for its portion of the committee’s expenses.
- The township will not be joining the Indiana Township Association, but the board did agree to leave funding to allow for the trustee, clerks, and board members to attend training sessions offered by the ITA.
- There will be no newsletter to the community outlining what the township has accomplished or is planning on doing in the future. This idea was offered by board chairman Greg Rainbolt but not supported by the other two board members.
- The board do approve the purchase of a new scanner for the office.
- The biggest disappointment was the elimination of funding for a contract with Partnership For A Healthier Johnson County.
I thought that $210,000 would be needed to fund the work of the township in 2012… the board approved $194,980.00 and I’ll do everything I can to keep within the budget.
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7 Responses to “WRT Trustee comments on budget”
Nice to see Mark Messick accepting and committing to live within the budget approved by the Board even though they turned down several of his proposals. What a pleasant change from the prior Trustee.
Comment made on October 21st, 2011 at 6:29 pmIt is much appreciated that the Board and Trustee have worked hard to minimize the 2012 township budget. However, I remain unconvinced that Township government is an effective use of tax payer money. From the financial report data issued by the Trustee for receipts and disbursements from 1/1/11 to 8/9/11, I have computed a government effeciency of approximately 18%. For that period of time, the Township disbursements for the essential services of maintaining abandon cemetaries and assistance to the needy was 18cents for every dollar spent. Although I have not done the same analysis on the 2012 budget, I have done it for previous years and the results are the same discouraging low effeciency. It is my position that Township government may have served a useful purpose in the past, but we should be able to deliver those essential services with much better effeciency today.
Comment made on October 22nd, 2011 at 3:54 pmJohn Griffin, I agree with you about the efficiency of the Trustee’s services being out of balance.
Comment made on October 25th, 2011 at 2:50 pmIf the Trustee’s office would stick to the essential services of which they are to provide and not try to grow the office into what it is not capable to provide but wish to become the effeciency would improve.
Are the citizens crying out for the Trustee’s office to do more? I have not heard those crys, but I continue to hear the Trustee’s office wanting to grow to address services for which the citizens are yet to ask for the office to provide.
Joe, said it best: “the only way to control the Trustee’s office is to do away with the Trustee’s O position.
Ken, I wish you had attended the budget meeting so you could be well informed before making comments like, “not try to grow the office into what it is not capable to provide but wish to become”. The only thing this trustee wanted to do was extend the hours of service to the citizens seeking “assistance” or poor relief and to enter into a contract with The Partnership for a Healthier Johnson County. In 2010, Partnership provided over $220,000 of medical services to the citizens of our community who couldn’t afford insurance and qualified by income guidelines. The Partnership wished to contract with us for those services, and according to Indiana Code, those are services for which the township is responsible to provide its residents who qualify. If Partnership for a Healthier Johnson County goes away, then all our taxes will have the privilege to make up the difference. I agree with the notion that township government should be efficient and effective. I would welcome John to come to the office and update his efficiency model based on all the duties of the office.
Comment made on October 31st, 2011 at 9:58 amYes, Ken, I said that right after I praised the current trustee who is a marked improvement over either of the last two. You know, the same current trustee who defeated you in the last election.
And by the way, Ken, wouldn’t you consider the fact that WRT keeps running out of poor relief funds a “cry” for either of the changes that the Trustee mentions? Especially since poor relief is one of the things that township government is supposed to do per statute?
If you really wanted to get rid of township government, you’d be more supportive of the effort to incorporate the township into a city that provides minimal services at minimal cost. That’s the kind of vision that White River Township needs, not people arguing about township association fees or newsletters or people who have never used a computer deciding the township only needs two PC’s.
Comment made on November 1st, 2011 at 11:25 pmJoe and Mark,
Comment made on November 2nd, 2011 at 1:19 pmMy agreeing with John Griffin should not raise your dander as it has.
Joe, I am aware Mark beat me in the election so you can shut down your celebration because your sparkler is getting a bit dim witted.
Mark, I do not have to attend a budget meeting to know you are not capable of doing more than the minimum job requirements of the Trustee’s office. I remember how you botched up the merger committee filings for the referendum and the lack of ability to unite the township behind a plan that could have drawn people together rather than divide the township. So I will thank you, as a taxpayer, to not refer to me as uniformed. You probably have more of a problem with WHAT I am informed of rather not that of which I am not.
At least we all know that it’s not personal, Ken.
Jay Marks did far more to harm the prospects of a merger than any member of the township board at the time – and you know it.
You should save your vitriol for Marks, who spent our tax dollars opposing the merger and then took with the transcripts of the meetings produced & paid for with – you guessed it – our tax dollars.
Comment made on November 2nd, 2011 at 2:10 pmLeave a Comment