Township government

What this level is

A township sits inside a county and does a short list of things on a levy of its own: emergency help for residents who cannot pay for rent, utilities or other basics; fire protection in many townships; and property assessment in a few large ones. There are more township races on this ballot than any other kind, and they are the least contested, so a reader who skips them is usually skipping an uncontested seat that still controls a tax rate.

• The trustee is the township's executive and handles township assistance, township property and funds, and in many townships the fire service. A three-member board, five in Marion County townships, is the legislative body that adopts the budget. ^{[1, 2]}
• Townships receive about three cents of every property tax dollar levied in Indiana. The amounts are small compared with the county or the schools, but they are the whole budget of the service a resident calls when they have no other option. ^[3]
• A township assessor exists only where the township had 15,000 or more parcels on Jan. 1, 2008 and its voters chose to keep the office when they were asked. Everywhere else the county assessor does that work. ^{[4, 5]}

How these offices work together

Each item below is one step the law requires: which office hands what to which, and why.

1. Township Board → to Trustee

   The board adopts the annual budget, the appropriations and the tax levy, approves the trustee's annual report, and sets the pay of the trustee and of every township officer and employee. ^{[2, 8, 9, 10]}

2. Trustee → to Township Board

   The trustee prepares the estimated budget for the board's annual meeting, then files the adopted budget with the state and files the annual township assistance report. ^{[1, 11]}

3. Trustee → to Residents in need, and the fire service (The people the money is spent on, not an office.)

   The trustee administers township assistance, which is emergency help with rent, utilities and other basic needs, and in many townships also provides fire protection. ^{[1, 7]}

4. Township Board → to State (DLGF) (A state agency. No election fills it.)

   The township's adopted budget and levy go to the state like every other unit's, and come back certified as a rate that the county then puts on the tax bill. ^{[12, 11]}

5. Township Assessor → to County Auditor

   Where a township assessor exists, that office does the assessing inside the township, and the values go into the same county books as everywhere else. ^{[4, 13]}

Every office at this level 1,890 races on this ballot

• Judge, Small Claims Court (Marion County township courts)

  9 races in Indiana this year

  Hears civil cases of up to $10,000 and landlord-tenant possession cases in a Marion County township small claims court.

• Constable of Small Claims Court (Marion County)

  9 races in Indiana this year

  Bailiff of the township small claims court who serves its papers and carries out its orders.

• Township Trustee

  939 races in Indiana this year

  The township's executive: runs township assistance for residents in need, manages township property and funds and, in many townships, provides fire protection.

• Township Board Member

  921 races in Indiana this year

  The township's legislative body: adopts the township budget and tax levy and reviews the trustee's annual report.

• Township Assessor

  12 races in Indiana this year

  Assesses property in a large township whose voters kept the office in 2008; elsewhere the county assessor does this work.

The problems this level has to solve

What the people elected to these offices will have to decide in the term starting in 2027, and why each one is a problem.

• Fire and emergency medical service is where the most new local money is going, and in many townships the fire service is the trustee's to provide out of a levy that is capped like every other. The cost is rising faster than the levy is allowed to. ^{[1, 6]}
• Township assistance is demand-driven. The board has to set a levy in advance, and the trustee then has to meet whatever need actually arrives during the year, which is a harder forecast than any other budget on the ballot. ^{[7, 1]}

Sources