Letters to the Editor do not reflect the opinions of The Reporter, its publisher or its staff. You can submit your own Letter to the Editor by email to News@ReadTheReporter.com.
Dear Editor:
I feel like a character in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
For multiple years, I have tried to get a forum for a hearing on whether Clay Township improperly charged Home Place residents only for two new fire stations and the new fire training center, which, to be clear, aren’t even in Home Place (though that doesn’t matter). I’ve gotten the runaround from “Grassroots Government” Doug Callahan and his merry band of super-spenders – er … wrong Orwellian term … Clay Township Impact Programmers – on the Township Board. (By the way, the impact of the stupidest roundabout in the world at 111th and Lexington is negative.)
I then sued in small claims court, asking for Judge Richard Campbell, assuming since he is also married to a politician who is the head of the county Republican Party, he would be extra careful not to deny an opportunity to be heard and look the least bit political. Instead, he bought hook line and sinker former House Speaker Brian Bosma’s argument that mine was a tax case and needed to be heard in Tax Court, which needed to go through the property tax assessment appeal process.
However, Speaker Bosma, who writes the laws, missed the fact that the state law for these types of cases specifically excludes the Indiana Board of Tax Review from hearing my case, which is required after the Assessor denied my appeal and before heading to Tax Court. Will the Tax Court also issue an Alice in Wonderland Rule 42? I get to pay $250 to find out.
Meanwhile, I am fighting the Assessor in Tax Court and not the Township itself, so the entire County is funding this nonsense, rather than just the residents of Clay Township. I sent the Indiana Board of Tax Reviews ruling that they are not the proper forum to Judge Campbell; he again just laughed me out of court. Who knows who is right? I do know a Township Board member had to apologize to me for me having the temerity to ask the Board to avoid unnecessary legal costs and look with their own eyes. Spoiler: They didn’t, earning that $14,000 a year (not even monthly!) for 14-minute meetings, occasionally longer to give an award to a retiring firefighter.
I have been hysterically accused by the Assessor’s attorney of not filing a paper with her and the Indiana Board of Tax Review at the same time, even though she accused me in the same email trail in which it was filed to both of them simultaneously! Oh, and I presented nearly 100 documents over a three-hour hearing which they didn’t have the authority to conduct so they couldn’t consider those documents, yet they will make me pay for those documents as “part of the record” to get my hearing at Tax Court, where again it will be against the Assessor and not Clay Township, just to try to get another hearing at this Board of Tax Review, hopefully this time with Clay Township.
Don’t fight town(ship) hall; don’t expect the media to care; but of course, they will tell you how to live (with a mask) and what you can or cannot do to stop the spread.
Lewis Carroll was right and I feel like we are “Through the Looking-Glass.” I want to stop the spread of illogic. Good thing for me, though, Speaker Bosma, is that the IBTR has even more relaxed rules of evidence than small claims court.
Are our governmental betters too clever by half, or are both Judge Campbell and the Indiana Board of Tax Review correct?
Eric S. Morris
Carmel
You are wasting your time Eric. Indiana government and specifically Hamilton County is no longer interested in a citizen’s right to know. They are first and foremost a source of subterfuge, they knowingly hide information, refuse to grant information to citizens who paid their taxes to compile the data. They have an absolute right to know.
There is no transparency. This request you made in March of 2019 was never answered before the election over a month later. I suspect there was never a response.
https://carmelstrong.com/character/integrity/what-are-doug-haney-mayor-brainard-and-all-the-incumbents-hiding/
Eric is clearly a super smart neighbor, but even the brightest among us fall prey to making assumptions such as “since he is also married to a politician who is the head of the county Republican Party, he would be extra careful not to deny an opportunity to be heard”. No, that is not how to maintain power. One maintains power through cancel culture, personal attacks, and whatever it takes to subdue your right to free speech. Better to spend your time in one-on-one conversations with neighbors to wake them all up.