Is it time to consider Unigov once more?

In the 1980's, a dedicated group of local citizens sought to investigate whether the Indianapolis government consolidation plan "Unigov" would work in Rising Sun and Ohio County. They held meeting, discussed options, and came up with a few ideas for saving money by eliminating duplication of efforts. The movement stopped after creating a combined law enforcement building in the old sheriff's office in 1991. Today, however, it may be time to revisit this issue as the State may soon remove significant hurdles to consolidation. Now, that concept is contained in House Bill 1362, which passed the House by a vote of 73-23 and is now headed to the Senate. The measure now allows local governments to consolidate without permission from the General Assembly is moving through the legislative process.

The bill provides a statewide outline for reorganization of any kind of government, from townships to counties, cities to schools and all other taxing units.
Supporters in Indianapolis and Evansville have been moving in this direction for several years, but the reorganization movement got welcome support when Gov. Mitch Daniels made it part of his program.

"“Redundant and antiquated government makes property taxes too high and decision making too slow," he said in his State of the State address. "“Let our traditional ‘creature of the state’ system begin giving way to a new era of home rule and local autonomy across our state.”"

Under the bill, virtually any adjacent or overlapping government units could decide to combine. The legislative bodies of both those entities could start the process by an initial vote or residents could petition to do so themselves. The legislative bodies would next set up a committee to draft a reorganization plan. The makeup of the committee is included in House Bill 1362.

The committee would have a year to draft a proposal that must include a variety of items, such as information on bonds and debt, personnel and labor agreements, details on how and where services would be provided and an explanation of the new legislative, fiscal and executive bodies that would run the merged unit.

The legislative bodies must approve that plan before the final step in the process a public referendum. There is at least one poison pill in the legislation – a provision on how the votes are counted in the final referendum. Originally, the bill required 51% percent approval from the total number of people affected by the change. For instance, if a city and county were trying to merge there would be one countywide vote. But a recent amendment separates the voting so that a majority of voters in each unit must approve the change.