Town Hall Meeting Against SB105

This Thursday, the 20th, from 6-9 p.m. at the Gary Neighborhood Services center at 21st & Madison Street, there is a Town Hall style meeting scheduled to get a petition going to oppose SB105, the municipal bankruptcy bill. The host, Tony Walker, lists the following 12 reasons to oppose the bill:

Reason 1: The State takes over the powers and responsibilities of the Mayor and the City Council once a city is declared to be financially distressed.

Reason 2: Indianaʼs Home Rule Policy (Indiana Code 36-1-3-2) is suspended for distressed political subdivisions.

Reason 3: Citizens of the distressed political subdivision have no say on how the state reorganizes public services nor recourse for the decisions made that affect their lives and community.

Reason 4: None of the State decision makers who would oversee the restructuring of the distressed city are elected, and thus they are totally unaccountable to local voters.

Reason 5: The authority of the Emergency Manager is too broad and could be interpreted to include the power:
• to dissolve municipal agencies and departments enabled by the City Council such as a housing authority or city court;
• to approve dis-annexation;
• to outsource services;
• to sell public assets; and more

Reason 6: All collective bargaining agreements are required to be renegotiated with the Emergency Manager as the sole bargaining representative of the distressed city.

Reason 7: No qualifications for the Emergency Manager are stated.

Reason 8: The Emergency Manager has the explicit authority to enter into shared services agreements with other cities and towns.

Reason 9: The language is unclear whether a simple or super majority vote of the Council is needed to approve filing a petition for distressed status.

Reason 10: “Anticipated annual revenue” is not defined. Does it mean current year revenue, next year revenue, or an averaged annual? Does revenue mean just property taxes or other grants and subsidies as well?

Reason 11: Distressed status could continue for years where citizens elected representatives are essentially powerless and governance is by a non-resident.

Reason 12: The Chapter 9 bankruptcy rules and procedures are sufficient alone.

I'm going to hear what the crowd has to say about this. And I'd like to know why, if Chapter 9 is currently sufficient alone, is there a state Senate bill in process? I thought the rationale was because there is currently no process to handle governmental bankruptcies in Indiana, though Chapter 9 was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1937. Now if Chapter 9 allows for the dis-incorporation of a city, and the selling off of its assets (total liquidation), than I give that two thumbs up! Surrounding communities can annex adjoining parts they see as valuable, remnants can reorganize as towns and cities from scratch, and the leftover, orphaned parts can be managed by county.

But what makes me so interested, if I'm not a Gary resident? What is the Plan B if SB 105 does get defeated? Business as usual is impossible. Will the county (me, me, me!) be asked to absorb the debt, effectively giving Gary a fresh start with no lesson learned, a fresh start to do the same things that got them in the mess they're now in? And if this becomes the case, why do cities like Hobart practice such monastic frugality? Why should Merrillville shut off street lights to live within its means while Gary putts along with no reason to trim things? What incentive is there for the rest of Lake County NOT to do things the Gary way?

I hope to have something to post Thursday evening besides "a lot of angry people gathered to yell about how Indy hates them, and want to know why people are so stingy they won't give the city a handout." I also hope this is of some interest to you readers, that I'm not wasting an evening on this.