County government should focus on essential services
County government's funding shortfall is entirely of their own making, because of misplaced priorities
Monroe County has been embroiled in a lawsuit since 2008 over the conditions of the county jail. That was also the year that the county council started its social services fund. Monroe County would lose that lawsuit, and is now under court order to build a new jail.
Imagine if county government, instead of subsidizing private charities since that time, had been putting away that money toward financing the court-mandated new jail. Imagine if city government had done the same, to help county government finance something that benefits the city more than the county. There would be enough money saved to build a new court-mandated jail without the need for bonds or the need to worry about a shortfall created by reducing the property tax burden.
None of this is a surprise, which is why county government's funding shortfall is entirely of their own making.
The social services fund has always been a farce, with the county council voting repeatedly to fund what was until a couple years ago the main abortion clinic for south-central Indiana. Now the county council is funding "gender affirming hormones" with tax dollars, denying and defacing the God-given sex established in the womb.
What the county council should do now is re-focus on essential services, and the place to start is by abolishing the social services fund. The city council should do the same, because the city has the same moral obligation to establish law and order that the county has. City government has been putting roadblocks in the way of building a new jail, so they should help with the financial burden of the project.
Finally, the mess with finding a location for the jail illustrates why state government should remove city government's zoning authority over county government property. Letting the city have this veto power over the decisions of elected county officials has never made any sense and this should be rectified as soon as possible.