3/1/2006
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Party-line vote rejects Indy Works compromise amendment
Mayor urges House leadership to reconsider a compromise that improves service, saves dollars
INDIANAPOLIS - Mayor Bart Peterson today urged leaders of the Indiana House of Representatives to reconsider a compromise that would merge fire departments in Indianapolis, while truly improving fire services and saving taxpayer dollars.
Senate Bill 1 currently purports to allow a fire department merger in Marion County, but in actuality, creates a department run by a 12-person committee, with no direct accountability and no guarantee of improving fire service and cost savings.
The House voted down, along party lines an amendment, by State Rep. Ed Mahern of Indianapolis, designed to fix those defects. This followed numerous concessions by the Mayor, and city attempts to get House leaders to come back to the table to reach a reasonable compromise.
"Creating a new bureaucracy of elected officials is a layer of government we don’t need," Mayor Peterson said. "Anyone who has run an organization knows you can’t run it by committee."
About the Mayor’s compromise. Peterson’s original Indianapolis Works plan called for merging the eight township fire departments into the Indianapolis Fire Department, eliminating all but two township trustees and boards for delivering poor relief; and merging nine township tax assessors into the County Assessor’s office.
However, the Mayor since proposed a compromise which still merges the fire departments, but allows the trustees and township tax assessors remain in place. In fact, Peterson has conceded 10 major points to the House leaders, but they have rejected his compromise.
"We agreed to leave the Marion County township assessors, as well as the trustees, in place," Peterson said. "I was reluctant to agree to this compromise, but ultimately believed it was a necessary concession to move forward with the fire merger, which will provide the lion’s share of cost savings."
"I hope the House leaders use these last few days to recommit to reaching a compromise," he added.
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