People don’t care enough to make change

Sam Yingling, Avon Township supervisor, wrote a mouthful when he advocated “dismantling” outdated townships. The same can be said for school districts. But to do in Lake County what other counties have done would replace the gerrymandered district overlays with efficient, cheaper “consolidation.”

We are fast entering a prolonged recession. Tax assessors are oblivious. Township administrations still seem blind to costly duplicated services by layered taxing bodies and political subdivisions that no longer work because their 1850s model no longer efficiently works.

State law stands in the way, probably because redistricting lurks in the wings when basic structural change comes. We can no longer support 11,500 elected township officials who receive $250 million annually to operate.

Look at the county election ballot today. Most supervisors run unopposed. Nobody cares!

It seems to go back to the real estate tax base. This is the last scholastic bastion of segregated public education. Does anyone really care? If not, wait until the current recession graduates into depression sooner than later. What people are constrained from doing will be done, first with vouchers replacing paychecks and then, with credit dried up completely.

Thaddeus Kochanny

Ingleside