And they did. Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson announced a deal this afternoon over the future of the Metropolitan Police Department. Under the agreement, Ballard will get operational control of IMPD. However, in exchange for the department, Ballard agrees to consult with Anderson on several matters, including the selection of the public safety director as well as the Chief of Police. However, the Mayor would have the final say on those hires.

The two also agree not engage the State Legislature in altering the statutory power of the Sheriff, in other words they won’t use lawmakers to make sure IMPD stays under the Mayor or goes back to the Sheriff.

Anderson said it was time to put politics aside and do what was best for the taxpayers of Marion County. Ballard said the transfer of IMPD was not a coup d’etat, but the passing of the baton by teammates.

The two agreed to work together to deal with Marion’s County crime problem.

The Public Safety Committee is meeting tonight to vote on the proposal. It is expected to pass since Republicans have a majority on the Council. A number of activists were expected to protest the transfer of power. This agreement just might make those protests a moot point.

Indiana House Democrats and Republicans are blaming each other over the death of a bill that would have codified Governor Mitch Daniels’ property tax assessment caps into the state Constitution. House Joint Resolution 1 would have capped resident property tax assessments at 1 percent of a home’s value, 2 percent for rental property and 3 percent for commercial property.

However, HJR-1 was pulled when Republicans offered a number of amendments to it. Democrats say the amendment that killed the deal was one that would have eliminated residential property taxes. They argue that the elimination of residential property taxes was not part of the Governor’s plan and such a formula was unworkable. And they had to protect the integrity of the process and stop Republicans from destroying the Governor’s plan.

Meanwhile Republicans say the elimination of residential property taxes was part of their 10-point property tax reform plan. And they argue the Governor said the elimination of residential property taxes was a fine idea if they could make it work. And the GOP said their plan would have reduced property taxes by 75 percent in four years. They say House Speaker Pat Bauer does not want a Constitutional amendment on property taxes.

Despite these two stark contrasts, there are two things both sides agree on. First, the Senate has a version of the same bill. Second, both sides the proposed amendment banning same sex marriage also had nothing to do with the death of HJR-1, contrary to what has written in the blogosphere.

In the property tax debate, I argue the schools have been the worst offenders. They are anywhere from 40-80 percent of the property tax problem. They complained about caps on assessments. They also fought against referendums on school projects in order to keep costs under control. And if all that wasn’t bad enough, here’s a prime example of a school district that doesn’t get it.

According to the Franklin Township Informer, Franklin Township Schools in Marion County collected more than $36,000 in revenue from its Pepsi vending machines. The funds were collected from January 2005 to October 2007. Initially school was allowed to the profits from the vending machines, however a policy change left only $2,500 at each school.

So what did the school district do with the leftover cash? Check this out. According to detailed records it spent $581.00 on an administration breakfast. $473 went to Bobby Jones Beef and Brew restaurant. More than $5,400 was spent on staff retirement lunches or parties. Franklin Township also spent $467 on donuts for a school bus tour. $73 was spent at Kabuto Japanese Steakhouse. The district also spent more than $500 on flowers for various occasions. And here’s the kicker, the district spend $355 on a piano for a retirement party.

But perhaps the most disturbing expenditure of all was $1,500 to a group called Stand Up For Education, the money was used to put down on a bond deposit to fight against a remonstrance for a school building project. So in other words, the school used taxpayers’ dollars to fight against individuals who didn’t want their property taxes increased because of new construction.

When asked if any of these expenses were the proper use of vending machine funds, Franklin Township School Director of Business James McWhirt told the paper, “It’s not the taxpayers’ money. There are no restrictions on how it is spent, it is open-ended.”

That’s obvious.

The State Board of Accounts does not audit these funds per se, however such funds should generally be used for the benefit of the student body as a whole, rather than a select group of students or administrators.

Could someone tell me how retirement parties, pianos, donuts, flowers, and meals at a Japanese Steakhouse benefit the students as a whole?

I knew it was too good to be true. There it was, a property tax crisis of near Biblical proportion. Citizens were mad; politicians were scared, real change was a possibility. And then, my world of reform started to turn into dust.

Over in the Indiana State Senate, the new policy has become protecting fellow elected officials rather than look out for the taxpayers. Amendments to government reform legislation will leave the township assessors intact in Marion County, as well as the small claims courts and would only allow a referendum to decide whether a County Executive should replace County Commissioners.

To add insult to injury, on the House side of the Capitol building there’s talk that any effort to eliminate township trustees is dead as well as fire consolidation in Marion County.

This is ridiculous! The taxpayers have demanded lawmakers get their act in gear and deliver real reform. You cannot have real meaningful reform unless you eliminate the government that raises the taxes. The culprits behind all this are Conservative Republican Senator Mike Young and Liberal Democrat Representative Bill Crawford. Young wants to protect the Assessor and Crawford the Trustees.

The funny thing is neither of these guys agrees on much of anything because of their respective political philosophies, but I guess when it comes to protecting your friends and ignoring the property taxpayers, both walk arm in arm.

There were quite a few things happening around town this afternoon. Here they are…

The Concerned Clergy, a small group of Black pastors, plan to protest Thursday’s Public Safety Committee meeting over handing control of the police department from Sheriff Frank Anderson to Mayor Greg Ballard. According to my sources, the group won’t protest under the guise of power being taken away from the Black Sheriff (because they read my blog and realized Anderson has endorsed the very white Kerry Forestal) but instead will try to argue that the city is trying to engage in discrimination and limit the hiring and promotion of Black officers by trying to get out of a consent decree on past racial hiring practices.

My sources tell me State Senator Jim Merritt’s local government reform plan may be awaiting a death sentence in the House of Representatives. Apparently some lawmakers are more concerned about protecting the township trustees than the taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

Marion County Clerk Beth White has unveiled plans on how the March 11 special election to fill the vacancy left by the late Julia Carson will work. White says there will be about 300 polling locations. She says she has about half of the 445 inspectors that she needs. Mayor Greg Ballard told me this afternoon that he plans to give city employees the day off if they agree to work the polls.

And speaking of Mayors, the Mayor named two more appointments today. Nick Weber, former aide to Senator Dick Lugar is taking over as the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development. Weber says his focus will be on workforce development as well as bringing new employers to the city. The Mayor also named former Marion County Clerk of the Courts Sarah Taylor as the head of Constituent Services. She says she wants to improve the response time on the Mayor’s Action call line.