Krauss Photo by Chris Meyer Both the flag of Indiana and the logo of Indiana University were seen in the foreground at the IU Southeast commencement May 10 in New Albany. In his inaugural address, IU’s President Adam Herbert said: “Indiana’s universities and the knowledge they produce are this state’s greatest assets in the effort to build a 21st-century economy.“

Results were released earlier this month. The IACIR, which is staffed by staff and faculty from the IUPUI Center for Urban Policy and the Environment, assesses attitudes of local government officials annually about issues and “hot topics.”

The heart of the survey was a series of questions about community conditions in six categories: health, public safety, economics, land use, local services and community quality of life. IACIR mailed the survey to 1,112 officeholders, including members of the Indiana General Assembly, county council presidents, county commission presidents, mayors, school board presidents, town council members and township trustees. The results reflect the responses of more than 500 officials.

The results reflect the uncertainty that local governments faced last year, according to John Krauss, a professor at the IU School of Public and Environment Affairs who directs the IACIR and began his tenure as director of the Center for Urban Policy and the Environment in January. “The survey offers insight into how officials feel about the directions their local Indiana communities are heading,” he said.

Some of the findings:

• Officials are less confident about the future of their communities. Fewer than three-quarters say they are optimistic about the future of their communities. This represents a decline from three previous surveys: 1999, 2001 and 2002 (82, 84 and 75 percent, respectively).

• Communities are experiencing deepening problems.

The cost of health services, overall economic conditions, drug abuse, unemployment and alcohol abuse topped a list of 17 conditions chosen by a majority of officials as major or moderate problems in their communities. Fifteen of these conditions have been reported by an increasing proportion of officials in each subsequent survey since 2001.

• Important issues: economic conditions and unemployment, cost of health services, drug abuse and streets. Officials most often said that the conditions that had deteriorated during the prior year and prior five years were overall economic conditions and unemployment, the cost of health services, poverty, drug abuse, traffic, vitality of downtown, and roads and streets. The issues most often identified as important to address during the next two years were economic conditions and unemployment, cost of health services, drug abuse and roads and streets.

• There is optimism about transitioning to a new economy. Economic conditions and unemployment were most frequently reported as the community conditions that had most deteriorated in the prior year and prior five years, and as the most important issues to address during the last two years. Similarly, almost half said that the employment prospects in their communities are poor. Despite these problems, many officials (45 percent) are optimistic about their community’s ability to transition to the so-called “new economy,” which is predicated on innovation, technological advancement and global partnerships.

• Drug and alcohol abuse plague many communities.

Since 2001, most officials have identified drug and alcohol abuse as moderate to major problems. Ninety-one percent said drug abuse or alcohol abuse is a problem in their communities in the most recent survey. A majority said that alcohol abuse is an issue for all age groups. While the most prevalent types of drug abuse vary according to age group, more than one-quarter of the officials said that marijuana and stimulants are a problem in their community for all age groups.

• Communities struggled with property tax reassessment.

Many counties were still struggling to complete property tax reassessment in the fall of 2003. The issues most often identified as major problems included the potential negative effect of reassessment on property values and property tax appeals. Other issues identified as major or moderate problems by a majority were: assessor turnover, staff training, funding for administration and the continued usefulness of tax increment financing and tax abatement. Few reported that tax disbursements were on time; almost half said their local government borrowed money, and 70 percent said they relied on financial reserves. School districts relied on borrowing more heavily than other types of local governments.

• Training for local responders and threat prevention and detection are top priorities.

About one-third of the officials said local spending increased for public safety because of 9/11 and homeland security concerns. Mayors and county commission presidents reported increases more often than other officeholders. Training for local emergency response personnel (67 percent), threat prevention and detection (47 percent), emergency equipment and apparel (37 percent), protecting infrastructure (37 percent), and coordinating regional planning efforts (35 percent) were most often identified as the highest priorities for state and federal assistance.

• Roads, sewers and jails are the most needed capital investments.

More than one-quarter of officials cited the following capital projects under construction in their communities: road infrastructure (50 percent), sewer infrastructure (48 percent), elementary schools (28 percent), middle or high schools (27 percent) and water infrastructure (27 percent). In both 2002 and 2003, officials most often identified road and sewer infrastructure as most needed. Officials also identified prisons and jails as most needed investments.

• Using telecommunications and IT to provide local government and educational services has been successful.

A majority reported success in using telecommunications and information technology in three areas: overall integration into local government (65 percent), improving education (65 percent), and improving government management and service delivery (56 percent). Only improving education was identified as successful by a majority in 2001. Despite reported successes, more than half of the officials did not have E-mail accounts for official business. Fewer than half of county council presidents (41 percent), school board presidents (31 percent) and township trustees (16 percent) said they have official E-mail accounts.

http://iacir.spea.iupui.edu