Townships have been around since the Northwest Territory was divided into townships in 1787! Currently 13 states still have townships and township trustees.
Townships vary in size and population in Indiana. All are unique in their own ways. Some will say we are antiquated! We say we are the branch of local government that is closest to the people in our township, and we know our townships that we live in better than anyone else!
Our original purpose was to act as “overseers of the poor.” Our state legislators changed the terminology of “Poor Relief” to “Township Assistance” per IC 12-20-1-5 effective June 30, 2005. They also changed the name of “Township Advisory Board” to “Township Board.”
We have a three-member township board that approves the township annual report, township administrative guidelines, contracts and policies, debt and salaries, and sets the levies and tax rates.
We, the trustee and board, answer to the people of our township through an elective process every four years. We are governed by state statute, audited by the Indiana State Board of Accounts and required to publish all expenditures. Township reports are accessible online through Gateway of Indiana.
We must provide administration of township assistance using guidelines, and we also use the federal income guidelines that are based on 100 percent of the federal poverty level.
Township assistance is to be used for emergency situations. This means an unpredictable circumstance or a series of unpredictable circumstances that place the health or safety of a household or a member of a household in jeopardy, cannot be remedied in a timely manner by means other than township assistance. All other resources must be exhausted.
Township assistance is not an ongoing resource such as welfare, food stamps, etc. We do assist with shelter, medical, utilities, household necessities, burials, etc.
Township assistance is for individuals that don’t fit into any other category for state and federal programs, it’s for emergency situations or when a person has no one else to help them. Trustees will network or partner with other organizations to find the necessary resources.
We MUST provide fire protection, care for township-owned cemeteries, noxious weed control and fence disputes, and we MAY provide EMS service, parks, recreation and community centers, etc., with a contract in order to provide a tax subsidy to any organization within our townships.
We go through a budget process with the Department of Local Government Finance every year. This is done as an 18-month budget. We adhere to maximum levies for township general and fire. It is not our objective to hoard monies but to stay within acceptable amounts to fulfill our contracts, purchase fire equipment and run our townships efficiently. When townships purchase fire trucks, equipment or any other township-related item without borrowing monies, that is saving taxpayers dollars and being good stewards of the tax dollars.
