Michael R. (Mike) Crider (Taxpayer Friendly)

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Address: 716 N 800 E, Greenfield, IN 46140
Phone: (317) 462-1037 
E-mail: S28@in.gov; mcrider700@yahoo.com      
Website: http://www.in.gov/s28/; http://mikecrider.com/   

2013 General Assembly Voting Record
Voted YES on House Bill 1001, which is Taxpayer Friendly because the 2013-15 state budget makes better use of the existing state Gasoline Tax and state Sales Tax revenues from gasoline purchases with NO NEW TRANSPORTATION TAX INCREASES to increase transportation funding for INDOT by 11%, cities and towns by 34%, and counties by 23%.
Voted YES on House Bill 1011, which is Taxpayer Friendly because construction of a costly light rail transportation system cannot be approved by a new central Indiana transit district before March 14, 2014.
Voted YES on House Bill 1313, which is Taxpayer Friendly because it (1) supports the establishment of a 2013 interim committee to study local government regulation of  residential leases and (2) prohibits a local government from adopting regulations for landlord licensing, mandatory landlord classes, and rental inspection and registration fees until July 1, 2014.
Voted YES on Senate Bill 319, which is Taxpayer Friendly because it prevents a significant shift of the property tax burden to farm working families by (1) using the current soil productivity factors until 2015 and (2) requiring the Department of Local Government Finance to confer with the College of Agriculture of Purdue University and submit a 2013 interim study committee report on soil productivity factors.
Voted YES on Senate Bill 389, which was Taxpayer UNfriendly because it created the possibility for a minority of county income tax council members representing a minority of the county population to impose a county-wide motor vehicle excise surtax and wheel tax. 

Watchdog Indiana Candidate Questions - November 6, 2012, General Election
1. QUESTION: What are your priorities regarding the 2013-2015 state budget? ANSWER: My intent is to support a truly balanced budget with no delayed payments or fund transfers while maintaining a reasonable "rainy day" fund balance. If we keep spending within the range of current year revenue streams and keep an eye on the overall economy that should be possible. I do not like the idea of budgeting based on projected growth as that growth may not be realized.
2. QUESTION: Should the non-transportation appropriations from the state’s Motor Vehicle Highway Account be transferred to the state’s General Fund so more of our Indiana Gasoline Tax dollars can be properly spent to meet our transportation needs? ANSWER: Maintaining our infrastructure is vital and should be a priority. As such we should only use the Motor Vehicle Highway Account for the purposes for which it was created. All non-transportation needs should be properly budgeted out of accounts created for meeting those needs whether that is the general fund or some other budgeting area.
3. QUESTION: Should the Automatic Taxpayer Refund law be (a) improved to make refunds more likely, (b) kept as it is, or (c) eliminated? ANSWER: Having not been involved in the budgeting discussions this is an area I am unsure about. I do like the idea of returning tax collections not needed for meeting current needs to the taxpayer. I think it is wise to maintain a reasonable "rainy day fund" based on the overall economic situation so the excess reserves threshold may need to be adjusted from time to time.
4. QUESTION: Do you pledge to maintain both the Homestead Standard Deduction and the Homestead Supplemental Deduction without ANY change? ANSWER: Yes.
5. QUESTION: What is your position regarding township government reform? ANSWER: I believe it is a decision best made at the local level by referendum. There is no one size fits all solution so the areas that make sense for reform are best decided by the locals. The public should expect that government will continually search for ways to be more efficient while conducting the peoples business.
6. QUESTION: What is your position regarding redevelopment commissions oversight? ANSWER: I believe that any fiscal unit of government should have proper oversight. All business should be conducted in open forums and there should be regular reporting and auditing of the business conducted.
7. QUESTION: Do you wish to make some additional comments about your candidacy? ANSWER: I am endorsed by a large number of groups and elected officials. More information is available on the website.
Watchdog Indiana Candidate Questions - May 8, 2012, Primary Election
1. QUESTION: Should the 2013-2015 state budget be balanced where (a) current year appropriations do not exceed current year revenues, (b) there are no delayed payments and one-time fund transfers, and (c) a reserves balance of at least 5% is maintained? ANSWER: Yes.
2. QUESTION: Should the non-transportation appropriations from the state’s Motor Vehicle Highway Account be transferred to the state’s General Fund so more of our Indiana Gasoline Tax can be properly spent to meet our transportation needs? ANSWER: Yes, in every case possible I would like to see taxes spent for the purpose for which they were collected.
3. QUESTION: Should the automatic taxpayer refund be improved, maintained, or eliminated? ANSWER: Maintained. There could be a possibility to improve it but that is dependant on the budget situation at the time we next create a budget.
4. QUESTION: Do you pledge to maintain both the Homestead Standard Deduction and the Homestead Supplemental Deduction without ANY change? ANSWER: Yes.
5. QUESTION: What is your position regarding township government reform? ANSWER: I agree it should be placed on a referendum so that individual communities can decide what works best for their situation. I don't believe there is a one size fits all solution but feel there is much room for more efficiency and potential tax savings in areas (a) (c) and (d). My major concern is with (b) as I don't believe it is wise to completely revamp a fire protection structure that works very well in most cases. For those rare cases in which that is not the case the problems should be addressed until they are no longer an issue.
6. QUESTION: What is your position regarding redevelopment commissions oversight? ANSWER: Funds spent by redevelopment commissions should be approved through an appropriate fiscal body either city or county council and those meetings subject to existing public meeting and records laws. Non-elected boards and commissions should receive this same level of scrutiny. This level of oversight should provide an appropriate level of protection for the taxpayers interests.
7. QUESTION: Do you wish to make some additional comments about your candidacy? ANSWER: I am one of a very few candidates that has actually run a statewide agency for several years. When I retired my budget was cut by 15 percent and we could not cut services. We had to adapt and find efficiencies and we did. That experience convinced me that there has to be room for improvement throughout state government if we will simply stay the course that Governor Daniels started us on. The taxpayers deserve no less.

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This page was last updated on 04/29/13.