Recent letters to the editor have questioned the amount of money Wayne Township gets by tax levy. Here is the rest of the story that was left out by the Democrats.
Wayne Township has the lowest per capita budgeted expenses of any township in Kosciusko County (2017 Budgets per Indiana's Transparency portal). At the township budget meeting on Sept. 11, 2018, $190,000 was cut from the 2019 proposed budget, which started close to flat from last year.
How much has been cut? In 2013 the total adopted budget was $777,802. The current proposed budget for 2019 is $397,798 — a reduction of over $380,000. In addition, the Advisory Board voted to reduce the township property tax in three funds by 30 percent. This allows you to keep your money and the township to spend from its cash balances.
But there is more to the story the Democrats left out. The township property tax levy has already been reduced over the years from .036 in 2013 to .0308 in 2017. All this was all explained at the most recent budget meeting. The Republican candidates for trustee and advisory board were all present to hear this information and provided valuable input into next year's budget. Astoundingly, none of the Democratic candidates were present. In fact, it is not clear any of them have ever attended a Wayne Township meeting. If they were to win, this would be their budget they would have to work within. We even delayed the meeting a bit in case they were caught by traffic, finding it hard to believe that not a single one of the Democrats would attend.
The old adage says that actions speak louder than words. The actions of the Democrat candidates in electing to not participate in the current township meetings speak volumes.
The next meetings are set for Oct. 4 and 16, both at 4 p.m. and both at the Wayne Township offices in the chamber building.
Want to know when future budget meetings are set for Wayne Township, or any unit of Indiana government? It is easy: Just enter your email into the box at budgetnotices.in.gov.
