See You In September!

September 17, 2009 will be the next Union Township Board meeting at Station 92, 998 South US 421, 7:00 p.m.

Transition Team

The Union Township Transition Teams members are: Dan Montgomery, Union Township Board President; Jim Sanford, Union Township Board Secretary; Michael Deiss, Union Township Country Wood Resident.

These gentlemen along with representatives from Eagle Township and the Town of Zionsville, will soon begin to expand on the recommendations made by the Reorganization Committee.

All meetings will be publically noticed and the public are invited to attend. This is the opportunity for the public to become more involved with the formation of our new Town of Zionsville.

Please take the time to become more involved in your community!

Reorganization – a good thing or bad?

The vote you cast this election regarding Reorganization will be historic. It is historic in that it is the first time in Indiana that citizens have voted to eliminate some government entities and combine for future efficiencies.

With Reorganization, the position of Township Trustee for both Eagle and Union townships will be abolished as will the three member boards of those townships. This is a good thing and while not a lot it will save the Union Township taxpayers around $11,350 annually.

Another good thing is that reorganization will match local government to our school district, which is the majority of our property tax load. School district expenses are directly effected by growth and it is only logical that community planning be able to make wise decisions regarding both community and school district growth.

The Reorganization Committee spent a lot time and recognized that a “one size fits all” approach would be a non-starter. The good idea that they came up with was a two tier system recognizing that some folks desire to live in the urban atmosphere of the village, while others prefer a rural lifestyle. Additionally reorganization provides that you only pay taxes for the services you receive, and we only pay for Union Township’s debt obligations (new fire/ambulance station) , not Eagle’s or Zionsville’s.

The only bad thing I can forsee is if Reorganization does not pass, in Indiana that leaves Union Township (and the rest of unincorporated Eagle Township) ripe for forced annexation – and the increased tax ramifications that will bring, as well as loss of planning input and probably spiraling school taxes or decrease in the quality of education for our children and grandchildren.

Reorganization is GOOD THING, be sure to vote YES November 4th.

Click here to link to the Reorganization Committee’s website or click here for a FAQ fact sheet.

Welcome to my new blog …

Gee, it has been almost a year since my last post … and a lot has happened. Fire station, Reorganization, Assessor job going away, just to mention a few.

With all that has happened and all the new opportunities that Union Township has before it, well it was time for a change and this new location is part of it. There may be a few hiccups, and some “furniture moving” around as I get used to the new place – please be patient.

Do subscribe, or Feed It to your reader … we’ll be in touch more often … promise.

Candace

Eagle Township, Union Township, Town of Zionsville

Hopefully most of you are aware of the expletory committee, “Communities of the Zionsville Area for Better Government”, that is investigation the possibility of Eagle and Union Townships along with the Town of Zionsville forming one combined governmental entity.

Firstly, I would like to thank the residents of all three areas who so graciously stepped forward to serve on this committee. The three committee members from each area are:

Eagle Township Union Township Town of Zionsville
Mike Andreoli Jay Parks Allan Rachles
Kevin Schiferl Alan Townsend Jim Longest
Gene Thompson Joe Turk Steve Freeland

These gentlemen and their sub-committee members have done an excellent job!

I would like to use this thread for you to post comments, concerns and suggestions to. Please be candid, as you input is extremely valuable. You may post Anonymous, post under your name, or if you would like to send me a comment personally, my email is clu@tds.net.

Please visit the reorganization committee website at: http://www.ibccn.org/reorg

Let’s hear from you!

Important Upcoming Dates & Cancellation Notice

The Union Township Monthly Township Board Meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 15, 2007 has been canceled so residents may attend the reorganization meeting of the Communities of the Zionsville Area for Better Government committee. The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Zionsville Town Hall. Union Township will hold their December 20th Township Board meeting at Union Elementary School, 1175 E. 300 S.

November 29th, Economics Club Dinner 6:00 PM Zionsville Community High School CafeteriaSpeaker: Ryan Kitchell, Director Office of Management and Budget State of IndianaTopic: Governor Daniels’ Property Tax ReformCost: $15 Adults; $10 StudentsContact Mary Grabianowski @ 873-3355 x. 12405 or mgrabianowski@zcs.k12.in.us for reservations before November 16th.

Correspondence/Public Records

During the recent contract negations with Worth Township Trustee Rob Guest, I became dismayed at the lack of written correspondence pertaining to specific issues.

A classic example is the status of the ambulance. Union Township in the recorded minutes of their April 7, 2005 Union Township Board Meeting, a motion was made by Marc Applegate and seconded by Charles Carr to appropriate $60,000.00 from cash on hand, as Union’s contribution toward the purchase of a ambulance. According to the minutes, Worth Township was contributing $75,000.00.

No where are there any recorded minutes or correspondence that changed the payment from “cash on hand” to expending $30,000.00 on the ambulance and another $30,000.00 in supplies.

It is due to this lack of documentation the Township Board voted unanimously at their September 13, 2007 meeting to post on the Union Township website all pertinent township correspondence, as it is a matter of public record.

The most recent correspondence has been regarding the fire contract termination. It is presently posted on the website, available through the Meetings page.

Comprehensive Plan Meetings

The Boone County Area Plan Commission and the Boone County Economic Development Corporation are holding the second round of interactive public workshops in planning for county-wide future growth and development. The purpose of the workshops is to develop a common vision of Boone County’s future and start developing the major goals and objectives that will serve as the base for the County’s new comprehensive plan and strategic economic development plan. There will be four separate workshops held throughout the county to make it as convenient as possible for citizens to attend. The workshop dates, times and locations are as follows:

Monday, October 1st, 2007
4H Fairgrounds Annex Building – Lebanon

Thursday, October 4th, 2007
Western Boone High School Library

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
4H Fairgrounds Community Building – Lebanon

Thursday, October 18th, 2007
Zionsville High School Cafeteria

All meetings start at 7 pm

All interested individuals are invited to attend and participate in shaping this county-wide plan.Part of a larger planning process that will provide strategic long-term vision and basic goals, objectives, policies and recommendations to help guide the county’s future growth and development, this workshop is an opportunity for citizens to get involved in the planning process and help shape the plan’s outcome.

The workshops will be facilitated by Shane Burkhardt, AICP, the Planning Director with American Structurepoint, Inc. and K.K. Gerhart-Fritz, AICP, President of The Planning Workshop, the consulting firms the County has retained to conduct the planning process.

Those attending the meeting will review the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the county that participants from the first round of public workshops identified. They will also work in small groups to expand on the results from the first round of public workshops and develop a vision for the County in 20 years. Once a consensus on that vision is achieved, the workshop will focus on those strategies, programs and policies that will be necessary to achieve that vision. The results of these workshops will be directly used by the Boone County Area Plan Commission, the Boone County Economic Development Corporation and Boone County Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee as building blocks for the new plan.

2007 Budget

Union Township has since received DLGF approval of our 2007 budget. The Certified Net Assessed Valuation is $223,549.640. The AV increased 40.37% from the $159,258,460 AV of 2006.

2008 Budget Public Hearing

The Board will meet for a public hearing on the 2008 Township Budget at 7PM on September 13th at Union Elementary School. We are still waiting on approval from the state of our 2007 budget, but we also must move forward.

It has taken a bit to come to grips with the pubic budget process. Unlike your home or business where you look at income to allocate expenses, basically government goes backwards and starts with expenses and then creates a tax levy or “income” to cover the expenses.

Public input and understanding is important in seeing that the expenses the township is budgeting for are reasonable and prudent. As has been mentioned previously in this blog, Union Township has been historically under budgeting for fire and emergency protection. It is only right that we pay our fair share.

Additionally, we are having to create a tax levy to get “income” to pay for the bonds for the new fire station construction. This was similar to getting a mortgage but deciding not to make any payments on it.

Yes, the above two items will increase the township’s budget, but fortunately our assessed valuation has increased significantly, thus spreading the burden more equitably.

Perhaps not for the faint of heart, but if you are interested in the budget process the Township Budget Manual is available online from the Department of Local Government Finance.

Any yes, this is another meeting to go to, but it does affect our neighborhoods and community in general. The Board and I would greatly appreciate your input for the future of Union Township.