Editor, Times-Union: Mr. Shepherd is right on in his comments (12-26-2011) about Governor Daniels diverting Lake Enhancement fees into the general fund. In fact, back on 2-3-11 Nancy Dembowski (D) released a publication stating she was trying to protect these funds to remain dedicated for Lake Enhancement purposes but the Republicans turned down her proposal allowing Governor Daniels to divert more than $2.4 million from that fund to the state’s general fund for “general government spending”. He also diverted another $1.4 million for the same purpose from a fund set up to pay conservation officers’ salaries, verified at http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_democrats/dembowski_news_20110203.html $2.4 million divided by $20 per boat is a lot of boaters paying this fee and for what? By shifting these fees into an account other than what it was intended for is nothing more than another tax. No wonder he says he has a balanced budget. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not balancing the budget. It is cheating the very people who paid this tax.
It seems to me that $2.4 million would go a long way in cleaning the Tippecanoe River. By doing so it would certainly help the flooding problem of our local lakes. Indiana Lakes bring in millions of tourism dollars. If the condition of our lakes prevent tourists from coming to Indiana it will have a major impact on the state’s economy. We all know how important these dollars are to our government. They certainly need more money to waste and no better place to get it than imposing more taxes.
It makes you wonder where this last large amount of money the board of accounts just “happened to find” was hidden or where all the lottery money is going. We need to keep a closer eye on these government officials and hold them accountable for their mishandling of our money. This means starting at our local level. The only difference is, the higher the level, the more money wasted.
