Dan Stockman reports on Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (IDLGF) report which:

examines the other end of the tax pipeline – how much each government spends. By showing the amount spent per resident, the report allows a crude apples-to-apples comparison.

In order to compile the report, the Department asked that political subdivisions
submit a copy of Parts 1 and 3 of the annual financial report routinely prepared for and submitted to the State Board of Accounts. Parts 1 and 3 of the annual financial report provide expenditure detail by fund and by classification. The Department acknowledges the assistance of the State Board of Accounts, the Department of Education, and the political subdivisions in providing information required for this report. The State Board of Accounts members are: Bruce A. Hartman, CPA, State Examiner, Mike Bozymski, CPA, Deputy State Examiner and Paul Joyce, CPA, Deputy State Examiner.

However, AWB blogs about some possible number errors in Stockman's report concerning what Fort Wayne spends on it residents from tax collections in the excerpt from Stockman's article which I have placed in bold:

Among Allen County cities and towns, for example, Huntertown spent $4,230 per resident, according to the report. Fort Wayne was a relative bargain at $1,643, followed by New Haven and Woodburn at $1,309 and $1,208, respectively, while Monroeville was at the bottom with $812. Grabill and Leo-Cedarville could not be compared because they did not report their 2006 spending to the Department of Local Government Finance. (In 2005, they reported spending $969 and $277 per resident, respectively.)

I decided to review the report and determine why my man Stockman had such a huge discrepancy in his numbers.

The IDLGF report list Fort Wayne civil city, which means its population has been updated to reflect the results of a special census, as having the second largest 2nd class city expenditure of $4,572.89 per capita compared to Bloomington Civil city with a 2nd class city expenditure per capita of $7478.53. The lowest cost per capita goes to Marion civil city at $1115.74 for 2006 based on 2000 census.

And when you compare cities and towns in Allen County, Fort Wayne expenditures are the highest at $4,572.89 when compared to the lowest, Monroeville at $812. But Huntertown civil town comes in pretty close to Fort Wayne expenditure at a cost per capita of $4, 229.87.

But here Stockman points to the report number of $4,572.89 as being a possible error:

The report itself is also imperfect: Fort Wayne was reported as spending $4,573 per resident, which, if correct, would have meant the city spent a total of more than $1 billion in 2006, about three times the correct amount

So, I come to the conclusion that Stockman was pointing that when it comes to knowing where your tax dollars are being spent is an unknown. And when you go to those who are suppose to be in the know, they only give you conflicting roundabout non answers to your original question.

In essence I would say Stockman reported on what was provided to him, Even erroreous information from talking heads that don't have a clue, folks who throw out terms like property taxes and a number. Stockman provides you with a few community experts quotes. But Stockman left it up to the readers to figure out what in the hell is happening to your tax dollars.

From the IDLGF report:

County government in Indiana is responsible for assessing property, recording deeds, providing sheriff services, holding elections, providing court services, providing welfare services, billing property taxes, and collecting property taxes. The services provided by counties generally do not differ across the state; therefore, disparities in spending levels are likely caused by various levels of current capital investment.

(bolded for emphasis)


It is your money. And Stockman leaves the reader with this quote from an ordinary citizen as food for thought:

It’s terribly important to look at the public sector as serving communities of people, and communities may differ,” Ostrom said. “The question is how effectively is the government reflecting the interests of the community they serve? That is the crucial question.”

Yep, the crucial question is to YOU challenging these folks who are stealing your money.