Bloomington Herald-Times, November 19, 2016

To the Editor:

The Monroe County Council's social services funding process is a farce and needs to be reformed immediately. The county council has continually attacked transparency and open government, and does not respect taxpayers.

Here is a little history. Back in 2011, the county council website advertised for several weeks that the council would be voting on the social service funding package on November 22. They actually voted on November 9. It should be illegal for any unit of local government to behave this way.

Then in 2012, the county council passed the social services funding package two days after Christmas and the day after a blizzard that had snarled the county.

The council fast-tracked the vote in 2015, trying to sneak through a vote that had always taken place later in the year.

This month, the county council voted on the funding package on November 9, the day after the election after putting it off for nearly three months. It did benefit Shelli Yoder to not have to vote to fund Planned Parenthood until after the election.

This fund has existed since 2008, so the learning curve is over. Taxpayers deserve a predictable process that is the same every single year.