Watchdog Indiana Home Page
Watchdog Lebanon Home Page
2012 Boone County Candidates
Watchdog Indiana Home Page
Watchdog Lebanon Home Page
Boone County Council
Watchdog Indiana asked our current seven Boone County Council public servants and ten 2012 Boone County Council candidates the Candidate Questions listed next.
(1) Will you vote to impose a regressive Wheel Tax in Boone County? BACKGROUND: see http://www.finplaneducation.net/wheel_tax_.htm.
(2) Will you urge our Indiana General Assembly public servants to pass legislation that makes better use of our Indiana Gasoline Tax dollars? BACKGROUND: see http://www.finplaneducation.net/gas_tax_reform.htm.
(3) Would you have voted Yes for the Boone County Council to send the August
31, 2011, letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials
requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget
because of revenue shortfalls? BACKGROUND: The Boone County Council voted 4-2 to
send the following August 31, 2011, letter (indicated in ITALICS):
Boone County Department Heads and Elected Officials,
First and foremost, let us express our gratitude for your efforts in confronting
our county’s serious financial situation. The thoughtfulness and
professionalism displayed throughout last week’s budget hearings, despite the
stressful and sometimes arduous process, were a credit to your offices and to
our community as a whole. The council applauds your efforts and appreciates all
the work you and your staffs have done to plan for the upcoming year.
Unfortunately, the county faces such a dramatic decline in revenue that the cuts
made last week are still insufficient to balance our budget. County revenue has
fallen more than $4.7 Million over the past two years. Through your efforts and
those of your staff to find efficiencies, to make do with less and to identify
alternative sources for funding outside the county’s general fund, by week’s
end over $2.2 Million had been trimmed from the submitted budget requests. But
this still leaves the total of requested expenses more than $2.5 Million over
the county’s anticipated income.
To help close this gap, the Council voted Friday to require that each department
review its budget and cut an additional five percent (5%) from the general fund
budget reviewed by the Council. Because the projections for county revenue in
the coming years show a continuing decline, you should not anticipate these
funding cuts being restored next year but rather consider them as permanent
reductions in funding. The Council recognizes, regretfully, that in many
departments these cuts can only be achieved by reducing expenditures on
personnel. While we have worked to protect our employees as this budget crisis
has approached, the grim fiscal reality may mean that the county workforce will
have to be trimmed. The Council also recognizes that achieving this further five
percent will be extremely difficult, particularly for some smaller departments,
and such extreme cases will be reviewed as necessary.
These additional cuts, painful as they will be, will still leave the county far
short of a balanced budget. Last year the Council shifted roughly $1.85 Million
of the general fund budget to the Rainy Day Fund to help cover the 2011
shortfall, and the Council plans to draw on the Rainy Day Fund again for 2012.
However, this course cannot be sustained indefinitely, and without significant,
permanent cuts or significant increases in revenue, our reserves will be
exhausted in just a few years. For longer-term planning purposes, further
reductions of an additional five percent should be anticipated for 2013 and
beyond.
We ask that you have your revised budgets – including these additional 5% cuts
from the General Fund – submitted to the Auditor’s office by the end of
business on Friday, September 9th. The Council expects to discuss the issue
further at its regular meeting on September 13, and likely at the joint meeting
with the County Commissioners in the first week of October. One or more
additional meetings to discuss and review these measures may also be
forthcoming, as we continue to work together to address this very difficult and
complex predicament.
Thank you for your service,
(4) Would you have voted Yes for the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion stating, "If a full-time position is vacated an offer of employment to fill the position shall not be extended until approval from the County Council."? BACKGROUND: The Boone County Council failed to pass this motion by a 3-3 vote.
The known responses to these questions are listed next. Please contact the remaining unresponsive Boone County Council members and candidates and ask them to answer the questions.
Harry Coleman (asia7384@aol.com). County Council Candidate.
(1) WHEEL TAX: No response.
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: No response.
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: No response.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: No response.
Heather Essex Gallagher (heatheressexgallagher@yahoo.com). County Council Candidate.
(1) WHEEL TAX: No response.
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: No response.
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: No response.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: No response.
Mike High. County Council Candidate.
(NOTE: The Candidate Questions have not yet been submitted to Candidate High because his contact information has not been obtained.)
Jim Hundley (jim@boonemutual.com). County Council Candidate.
(1) WHEEL TAX: No response.
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: No response.
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: No response.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: No response.
Steve Jacob (stevejacob@tds.net). County Council Member.
(1) WHEEL TAX: Steve Jacob recently provided the following response to a constituent: "In regard to the 'wheel tax' noted in your email, I have only one vote on the Boone County Council and I do not have the authority to act to impose said tax. I would also state that the issue has not been on the agenda in recent years. It was mentioned at a recent meeting, but I can assure you that the subject would be given much open and on the record public discussion before considering taking action on the subject. I would be glad to discuss in more detail and really appreciate your interest."
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: Steve Jacob recently provided the following response to a constituent: "On several occasions during my tenure on the Council I have talked to various State legislators about this issue, encouraging more dollars to be made available from the gas tax to be spent on local streets and roads. I trust that is what you mean by making better use of our Indiana gasoline tax dollars. To the extent I have urged our General Assembly to make better use of our gasoline tax dollars, I have not used that term."
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: Steve Jacob voted Yes for the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget because of revenue shortfalls.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: Steve Jacob voted Yes for the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill a vacated full-time position.
David Rodgers (drodgers@ilines.net). County Council Member and Candidate.
(1) WHEEL TAX: David Rodgers recently provided the following response to a constituent: "Thanks for your inquiry. I’ve noticed quite an uptick in interest in the wheel tax issue lately, though it has never been raised by a member of the County Council in the 3+ years I have served as a member. I hope you’ll forgive me not giving a clear-cut answer to your first question, but I believe this issue, as with so many issues of real importance at every level of government, is more complex than a yes or no answer can justly address. Property taxes cannot, by statute, be used directly to fund road maintenance; using county option income tax revenue or other sources such as the food and beverage tax are really our only other local option. Our highway department receives the majority of its funding from the state gasoline tax, with other smaller state-collected taxes (like excise taxes) contributing a much smaller portion. For the 2012 budget year Boone County Highway anticipates revenue from those state-controlled sources to be slightly lower than what was received in 1999, even with maintenance costs up more than 300% in many cases. I have never been a supporter of the wheel tax, and I do not foresee that changing. I agree that it is a regressive tax, though with proper structuring of the fees – and I really do see it as a user fee – that issue can be somewhat alleviated. If the funding solution is left up to us at the county level, though, I would much prefer other levy solutions. Most important to me is that enacting a wheel tax simply would not solve the problems the county faces in funding road maintenance. When I last looked into the issue enough to make some estimates, the county’s portion of revenue (the majority would be divided among the county’s municipalities) from enacting a wheel tax with fees short of the maximum rate would only be in the range of $500,000 annually. While that amount is certainly nothing to sneeze at, it would fall far, far short of covering the current shortfall needed simply to maintain our roads in their current condition. It simply does not seem to me to be worth the trouble – the political difficulty, the regressive nature of the tax, the issues with collection and distribution through the BMV, etc. – to enact a wheel tax for such a relatively small boost to road maintenance funding. With all that said, I would never unequivocally rule out any revenue option should circumstances change. There may come a time when other options have been exhausted. I could also foresee the possibility of the municipalities of the county banding together to demand the wheel tax be adopted; I don’t believe that entirely unreasonable, as a majority of the revenue would be divided amongst them, though the difficulties I listed above would still apply. I also support the proposal being advocated by Lebanon’s Mayor Huck Lewis in the state legislature which would give the municipalities more direct input on any wheel tax decision."
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: David Rodgers recently provided the following response to a constituent: "Your second question I can, in fact, answer unequivocally: yes! Since before joining the Council, I have consistently encouraged our state legislators to remove funding for the State Police entirely from the gas tax revenue and instead support it solely from the state’s general fund. I made this point again just last weekend at the Legislative Breakfast held in Lebanon. Representative Jeff Thompson indicated that he felt the prospects for doing so in next year’s state budget were better than they have been for some time, but others did not seem so positive. I will continue to push for that move, though even that will not entirely solve our funding shortfalls. In the long term, revenue from the gas tax will continue to decline overall as we as a society move to more fuel efficient vehicles and away from fossil fuels in general. One option I have found increasingly attractive is funding part of the highway department’s budget through the food and beverage tax. I believe the Council intends to follow my recommendation to fund the ongoing lease of new trucks and possibly graders from this fund beginning with the 2013 budget cycle. I hope these answers explain my views adequately. I apologize for their length. Again, this is a very complex issue, which will not be going away any time soon. I do not foresee a wheel tax being introduced in Boone County in the reasonable future, no do I have any intention of supporting it. But one thing I have learned in my time in local government is that circumstances beyond our local control can sometimes require us to take actions we would not choose. If you are interested in learning more about the council’s decisions, I invite you to visit my website: http://rodgersforcouncil.blogspot.com. I have posted my personal notes from each Council meeting since taking office, as well as a few other items on related topics. It is neither fancy nor exciting, but I hope it keeps people informed of what we’re up to. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me."
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: David Rodgers voted Yes for the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget because of revenue shortfalls.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: David Rogers voted Yes for the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill a vacated full-time position.
Stephen Schanke (steve@schanke.com). County Council Candidate.
(1) WHEEL TAX: No response.
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: No response.
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: No response.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: No response.
Debby Shubert (deshubert@hotmail.com). County Council Member and Candidate.
(1) WHEEL TAX: No response.
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: No response.
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: Debby Shubert voted No against the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget because of revenue shortfalls.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS. Debby Shubert voted No against the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill a vacated full-time position.
Aaron Smith (taxless3@comcast.net). County Council Candidate.
(1) WHEEL TAX: A Boone County Wheel Tax is unneeded if our County Council manages its budget properly. Information explaining the Wheel Tax and how it is unnecessary in Boone County can be found online at http://www.finplaneducation.net/wheel_tax_.htm.
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: No Indiana county would need to impose the regressive Wheel Tax if our state made better use of our Indiana Gasoline Tax dollars. Every Boone County Council Member and Candidate should FIRST support an initiative like the ‘Indiana Gas Tax Reform Plan’ to better use Indiana Gasoline Tax dollars BEFORE considering the imposition of a regressive Wheel Tax. A complete description of the Gas Tax Reform Plan can be found online at http://www.finplaneducation.net/gas_tax_reform.htm."
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: I would have voted Yes for the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget because of revenue shortfalls. It is fiscally responsible for our Boone County government to live within its means without tax increases.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: I would have voted Yes for the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill a vacated full-time position. While I support past County Council efforts to live within its means without trimming the county workforce, any needed future savings might require reduced personnel expenditures to avoid tax increases.
Walter (Butch) Smith (wsmith312@yahoo.com). County Council Member.
(1) WHEEL TAX: No response.
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: No response.
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: Butch Smith voted No against the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget because of revenue shortfalls.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: Butch Smith voted No against the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill a vacated full-time position.
Gene Thompson (Eagletownship@aol.com). County Council Member.
(1) WHEEL TAX: Gene Thompson recently provided the following response to a constituent: "As a Boone County Councilor, I am willing to look at all sources of new revenue (taxes) during this year. The County Council has significantly cut expenses and county employees have gone three years without any raise. I am willing to consider all new taxes, along with expense controls, to make sure that we adequately fund services to our citizens. Until such time that the matter has been fully studied, I have not yet decided whether or which taxes I might support."
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: Gene Thompson indicated in a recent E-mail that he will call State Representative Jeff Thompson to discuss Representative Thompson’s decision to author a Preliminary Draft of the legal language necessary to implement the Indiana Gas Tax Reform Plan to better use our Indiana Gasoline Tax dollars for the construction and maintenance of our Indiana streets, roads, and highways.
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: Gene Thompson voted Yes for the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget because of revenue shortfalls.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: Gene Thompson voted Yes for the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill a vacated full-time position.
Craig A. Triscari (Info@trilegion.com). County Council Candidate.
(1) WHEEL TAX: I do not see the positive impact at this time to implement a “Wheel Tax” which I believe to be a regressive tax on the people in Boone county. I understand the need to generate revenue to better our roads and fund our current operations, but generating revenue through regressive taxation is not my solution.
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: I fully support reforming our Indiana Gas Tax so that it reestablishes the priorities to support Indiana roadways. I support fully funding existing roads before opening discussions to expand road systems without understanding the funding requirements to support these projects in the long run.
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: I support an additional 5% decrease from 2012 general fund budget because of revenue shortfalls. I would support this over discontinuing other services because we cannot meet our budget requirements. I also would support increasing our public officials budgets when the county has the revenue to re-expand. We have to ensure a balance between what the county wants versus what we need.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: I would have voted yes to requiring county council approval to fill vacated full-time positions. The bottom-line is that we need to have the funds obligated to support that position or it will be counterproductive and cause more frustration if it is not adequately funded.
Brent Wheat (bwheat@cityoflebanon.org). County Council Member.
(1) WHEEL TAX: No response.
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: No response.
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: Brent Wheat voted Yes for the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget because of revenue shortfalls.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: Brent Wheat voted No against the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill a vacated full-time position.
Marcia C. Wilhoite (wilhoite@ilines.net). County Council Member and Candidate.
(1) WHEEL TAX: No response.
(2) INDIANA GAS TAX REFORM PLAN: No response.
(3) LETTER REQUIRING ADDITIONAL FIVE PERCENT 2012 GENERAL FUND BUDGET CUTS: Marcia Wilhoite was not present to vote on the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget because of revenue shortfalls.
(4) MOTION REQUIRING COUNTY COUNCIL APPROVAL TO FILL VACATED FULL-TIME POSITIONS: Marcia Wilhoite was not present to vote on the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill a vacated full-time position.
The seven candidates in the contested May 8 Boone County Council primary election responded to a questionnaire in the April 25 edition of The Lebanon Reporter.
The two Lebanon Reporter questions that follow have been used to help determine the Watchdog Indiana Candidate Rating for each of the seven Boone Council candidates.
1. With rising expenses, such as fuel, and shrinking revenue, is local option income tax inevitable? If so, what type? If not, why not?
4. What plans should the county be making in case the economic recovery continues to stall?
The excerpted summary of the answers to these two questions given by each of the seven candidates is listed next.
Heather Essex Gallagher (heatheressexgallagher@yahoo.com). I don’t think any type of tax is inevitable. I would like to research other options that are available without raising taxes. We all look at our own personal budgets and how we spend money differently than we did five years ago. I think the same principles apply to our county. We still value the same things, we just need to get creative on how we pay for them.
Jim Hundley (jim@boonemutual.com). I don’t think raising taxes is ever really an answer for declining revenue. I believe we need to look at spending, and is a service a need or a want. The county will have to make do with less. Nonessential services and some essential services may have to incur a user-fee type approach.
David Rodgers (drodgers@ilines.net). While the county’s revenue streams have shrunk dramatically, I do not foresee an additional income tax in the near future. While reaching previous levels will take many years, Boone County is in an excellent position to grow our way out of our current constraints. The one local option tax possibility I will continue to monitor closely is that for public safety, which must be a top priority for any government. In addition to that option currently requiring enactment of yet another tax, our overall revenue picture is still too uncertain to justify that decision. I’m hopeful that our revenues have bottomed out, but I believe the conservative approach the council has followed the past three years will have to continue even if the recovery does build momentum. While the council has pulled from the county’s reserve funds the past two years to ease the impact of the drastic drop in revenue without laying off employees or cutting services, those funds are still healthy, so we do not face an imminent crisis. If revenues do not pick up, the county will have to begin cutting employees. Toward that end, I will continue to advocate for implementing a policy requiring council approval before any new employee could be hired to fill a vacant position.
Stephen Schanke (steve@schanke.com). Clearly a local option income tax is NOT inevitable at this time provided all citizens continue to be proactive. There are many things that determine the need for new or increased taxation. There are the obvious ones such as the increased desire or mandates for governmental services, the inevitable increased expense of providing them, and the fluctuations in the economy. On the revenue side of the taxing equation is the need to increase the existing revenue base utilizing our assets through well-planned economic development. County governance has a duty to operate within the economic situation, not as if the economic recovery will continue, and not bet on a recovery and then if economic recovery stalls take emergency measures. My over-arching goal will be to assure that county tax dollars return the best and most cost-effective services for our citizens. Following are my first three priorities: phase in a zero-based budget program, implement a "best practices" improvement program, determine the cost drivers for each expense item in the budgets and compare against time to see the correlation between changes in cost drives and expenses.
Debby Shubert (deshubert@hotmail.com). A county budget is an evolving process impacted by forces we can’t control. It is controlled by the state budget, by local collections, property taxes and income taxes. The local option income tax is a tool in our toolbox. When the time is right, the council will consider it in conjunction with a wide array of options. We must make do with less and to identify alternative sources of funding. Our Rainy Day Fund has been protected for years, and should be used for emergencies and shortfalls. The budget must be watched closely to keep spending down, and we should use every opportunity and join with cities and towns in the county to buy in bulk like we have proven savings with the purchase of gasoline.
Craig A. Triscari (Info@trilegion.com). The idea that raising taxes or creating another tax to increase revenue to pay for the costs of inflation is a false option during times of economic recovery. Priorities of efforts within the community need to be established and enforced based on current revenue collected. That may mean cutting programs in the short term to establish the right balance. When revenue and growth within the community increases due to a stable and successful market so does the contribution to that community. If the economic recovery slows down or continues to stall the county should be in a position to maintain basic community needs. Duplication of county assets should be reviewed to ensure cost can be reduced by consolidating functions for those efforts. Volunteer workforce efforts and internships should be reviewed so as to expand workforce areas that may need to be functional but doesn’t have the money to reach its operational abilities.
Marcia C. Wilhoite (wilhoite@ilines.net). The main revenue sources for the county are property taxes and county option income tax, but the county also receives revenue from many other sources (i.e., fee based charges and food and beverage tax dollars). One of my jobs will be to consider local option income tax. Another job is to assess the need to reduce expenses. One of the steps that the county council has already taken is following the Department of Local Government Finance’s recommendation on the operating fund balance. Each month the council receives additional requests for funds by other office holders and departments, and I will evaluate these requests based upon their merits as well as available funds. Also, as a member of the council, I will consider spending cuts, hiring freezes and using the savings funds if revenues fall far short of expectations.
Listed next are the 2012 campaign contributions received by each of the seven candidates in the contested May 8 Boone County Council primary election.
NOTE: The data for this list was obtained from the Reports of Receipts and Expenditures filed in the Boone County Clerk’s office: also see http://boonecounty.in.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=7AXN0n-Wzs4%3d&tabid=61&mid=1511.
Heather Essex Gallagher
Jim Hundley
David Rodgers
Stephen Schanke
Debby Shubert
Total Contributions = $5,568.73
Unitemized Contributions = $610.00
Itemized Direct Individual Contributions ($3,069.73 Subtotal)
$1,844.73 Deborah Shubert (candidate)
$200.00 Terry Baker (Fishers)
$200.00 John Brand (Lebanon)
$100.00 Charlie Campbell (Thorntown)
$100.00 Carol Sparks Drake (Whitestown)
$25.00 C. Archibald Hawkins (Lebanon)
$100.00 Tim Jenson (Indianapolis)
$50.00 Jay C. Longenecker (Noblesville)
$100.00 Michael Martin (Avon)
$50.00 Jane Myers (Lebanon)
$50.00 Tonya Thayer (Lebanon)
$50.00 Jeff and Anita Wolfe (Lebanon)
$200.00 D. Joe Wood (Lebanon)
Itemized Direct Corporation Contributions ($325.00 Subtotal)
$50.00 Beam, Longest & Neff LLC (Indianapolis)
$25.00 DLZ Indiana LLC (South Bend)
$100.00 Jesse, Inc. dba Cobblestone Grill (Zionsville)
$100.00 Kirtley Taylor Sims Chadd & Minnette
(Crawfordsville)
$50.00 Lamar Lamar Insurance (Lebanon)
Itemized Direct Political Action Committee Contributions ($750.00
Subtotal)
$500.00 Metropolitan Indianapolis Board Of Realtors
Political Action Committee (Indianapolis)
$250.00 DPBG Political Action Committee (Indianapolis)
Itemized Direct Candidate Committee Contribution ($650.00 Subtotal)
$650.00 Friends Of Huck Lewis (also made a $164.00
in-kind contribution for a fundraiser)
Craig A. Triscari
Marcia C. Wilhoite
Candidate Debby Shubert’s campaign contributions total of $5,568.73 is more than the campaign contributions total of $5,398.85 for the other six candidates combined. Even more troubling is that a lot of Candidate Shubert’s campaign contributions come from the same pro-developer contributors whose lavish excess helped elect Lebanon Mayor Huck Lewis last year.
Candidate Shubert is the Executive Assistant to Mayor Lewis. Mayor Lewis states on the City of Lebanon website that "by partnering with the ... (Greater Lebanon) Community Vision Committee (GLCVC), I will strive to make Lebanon a destination community." The 2010 Lebanon Schools Referendum supporters website defined what "destination community" means with the statement that "We need to be able to attract the RIGHT new residents to our community, young professionals and families who will pay to purchase homes and support our community." There is a controversial implication that many existing older and lower-income Lebanon citizens are WRONG for the community.
A community controversy exists in Lebanon between the Greater Lebanon Community Vision Committee (GLCVC) and citizens who favor orderly growth that pays for itself. Lebanon is primarily a bedroom community where most citizens want an affordable place to live that supports orderly municipal growth without extravagant tax subsidies and utility rate increases that support developers, such as the 12.4% increase in Lebanon’s property tax rate this year and the 18.6% increase in the residential customer electric rate that has been requested by that the Lebanon City Council. The cumulative negative impact of the developer-dominated GLCVC and their supporters is summarized at http://www.finplaneducation.net/lebanon_failed_vision.htm.
GLCVC supporters generally fall into two categories: (1) developers and related contractors who benefit from disorderly attempts at rapid development and (2) local citizens such as bankers, newspaper publishers, radio station owners, investment advisors, lawyers, hospital administrators, auto dealers, realtors, insurance agents, print shop owners, mortuary owners, and restaurant owners who believe that one more customer justifies any action no matter how detrimental to others. These two categories of GLCVC supporters supplied a large portion of the whopping $62,565.80 in campaign contributions to Friends of Huck Lewis since January 1, 2010: see http://www.finplaneducation.net/huck_lewis_contributions.htm.
The Candidate Shubert contributors shown in red above also contributed to Friends of Huck Lewis. The indiscriminate fundraising from pro-developer GLCVC supporters is troubling.
The above responses to the Watchdog Indiana and Lebanon Reporter candidate questions, and the above campaign contributions data, have been used to assign the Candidate Ratings listed next to the seven candidates in the contested May 8 Boone County Council primary election.
David Rodgers is Taxpayer Friendly. Candidate Rodgers (1) opposes the imposition of a regressive Boone County Wheel Tax at this time, (2) fully supports the Indiana Gas Tax Reform Plan to increase transportation funding to counties by 45% and to cities and towns by 46%, (3) voted for the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget because it is fiscally responsible for our Boone County government to live within its means without tax increases, (4)voted for the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill vacated full-time positions because reduced county personnel expenditures might be needed in the future to avoid tax increases, and (5) does not foresee the need for a local option income tax in the near future.
Craig A. Triscari is Taxpayer Friendly. Candidate Triscari (1) opposes the imposition of a regressive Boone County Wheel Tax at this time, (2) fully supports the Indiana Gas Tax Reform Plan to increase transportation funding to counties by 45% and to cities and towns by 46%, (3) supports the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter to the Boone County department heads and elected officials requiring them to cut an additional 5% from their 2012 general fund budget because it is fiscally responsible for our Boone County government to live within its means without tax increases, (4) supports the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill vacated full-time positions because reduced county personnel expenditures might be needed in the future to avoid tax increases, and (5) believes another tax to increase revenue to pay for the costs of inflation is a false option during times of economic recovery.
Heather Essex Gallagher is Uncertain. Not enough is known about this Zionsville resident and part-time project manager and grant administrator for the Indiana University School of Nursing to form an opinion regarding whether or not she is results-oriented, compassionate, and fiscally responsible.
Jim Hundley is Uncertain.
Candidate Hundley, who is President of Boone Mutual Agency Inc. in Lebanon, stated at the March 27 Boone County Tea Party meeting that "government does not have a taxing problem, government has a spending problem." However, Candidate Hundley also said that Boone County "can’t balance the budget every year on the backs of employees" and identified police, medical, fire, and roads as needs rather than wants. This last statement could indicate that he might support an unneeded Wheel Tax and an unneeded Local Option Income Tax Increase for public safety. However, Candidate Hundley has also stated in the April 25 Lebanon Reporter that "I don’t think raising taxes is ever really an answer for declining revenue. I believe we need to look at spending, and is a service a need or a want." Candidate Hundley has not provided voters enough information to determine if he is results-oriented, compassionate, and fiscally responsible.Stephen Schanke is Uncertain.
Candidate Schanke’s bio can be found online at http://yourzionsville.com/steve-schanke/. Not enough is known about the public policy positions of Candidate Schanke to form an opinion regarding whether or not he is results-oriented, compassionate, and fiscally responsible.Marcia C. Wilhoite is Uncertain. As a current Boone County Council member, Candidate Wilhoite was not present for the votes to send the August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter requiring that an additional 5% be cut from the county’s 2012 general fund budget and the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill vacated full-time positions. Candidate Wilhoite has also declined to clearly divulge her positions regarding the imposition of a Boone County Wheel Tax, support for the Indiana Gas Tax Reform Plan, and the imposition of a local option income tax.
Debby Shubert is Taxpayer UNfriendly.
Under current law, only a county council may adopt, or make changes to, the Motor Vehicle Excise Surtax and Wheel Tax (which must be adopted together). Candidate Shubert is Executive Assistant to Lebanon Mayor Huck Lewis, who is the number one Wheel Tax advocate in Boone County that convinced State Senator Phil Boots to author a 2012 General Assembly bill that would permit a county income tax council to adopt, increase, decrease, or rescind a Motor Vehicle Excise Surtax and a Wheel Tax for a county. Mayor Lewis believes that the Lebanon City Council and the Zionsville Town Council would join forces on the county income tax council to pass a Wheel Tax. Senator Boots’ bill was not deemed to have enough merit to receive a public hearing in the Senate Local Government Committee, but he shamefully maneuvered to have the bill’s legal language inserted into another bill in the House Ways and Means Committee WITHOUT a public hearing. Watchdog Indiana helped convince the House Ways and Means Chairman to remove the Wheel Tax-increasing legal language from the bill because a public hearing was not held to thoroughly review the pros and cons of having county income tax councils take the power to impose a Wheel Tax away from county councils. Candidate Shubert would be expected to support an unneeded Boone County Wheel Tax because she might lose her job if she opposes the tax-increasing wishes of Mayor Lewis. It is equally disturbing that Candidate Shubert has not publicly supported the Indiana Gas Tax Reform Plan, because making better use of our Indiana Gas Tax dollars would make unnecessary the imposition of a Boone County Wheel Tax. Furthermore, Candidate Shubert voted as a current Boone County Council member AGAINST sending the fiscally responsible August 31, 2011, Boone County Council letter requiring that an additional 5% be cut from the county’s 2012 general fund budget and AGAINST the August 9, 2011, Boone County Council motion requiring County Council approval for an offer of employment to fill vacated full-time positions. Candidate Shubert's unclear position on a new local option income tax coupled with her voting record implies that she will put the desire for county tax increases by some county employees ahead of county taxpayers trying to recover from the Great Recession. In addition, Candidate Shubert's indiscriminate fundraising from pro-developer supporters is troubling.Paid for by Watchdog Indiana and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee other than Aaron Smith.
Watchdog Indiana Home Page
Watchdog Lebanon Home Page
This page was last updated on 07/05/12.