INDIANAPOLIS | A business-backed group has asked state auditors to investigate whether Calumet Township Assessor Booker Blumenberg Jr. illegally spent taxpayer dollars while campaigning to keep his job.
MySmartgov.org on Tuesday sent the State Board of Accounts a letter questioning who paid for an Oct. 10 mailing to taxpayers that carried the headline, "Keep Your Township Assessor's Office in Gary."
A referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot will ask voters in Indiana's 43 largest townships -- including seven locally -- whether they want to transfer property tax assessing duties to the county level.
Blumenberg's letter, which also contained information about provisional tax bills, claimed that "taxpayers will have even less ability to influence their property tax situation" if the consolidation gets the nod from voters. And the four-page mailing included a newspaper article speculating that the elimination of Blumenberg's job would make it easier for Griffith to secede from Calumet Township.
"The concern really is that it seems that he is campaigning using funds from the taxpayers," said Marilyn Schultz, the executive director of MySmartgov.org, a local government reform group backed by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Association of Realtors. "You can't run a campaign using the taxpayer's dollar."
State Board of Accounts Examiner Bruce Hartman had not received the complaint against Blumenberg Tuesday afternoon, but he said state law clearly prohibits using public money for political advocacy. Hartman said the Lake County auditor refused to reimburse North Township more than $30,000 for a similar mailing that went out this summer.
Blumenberg defended his letter, which he acknowledged was paid for by tax dollars.
"It's not political. It's not partisan, and it does not tell the taxpayers how to vote," Blumenberg said. "I got a legal opinion before I sent it out."
MySmartgov.org formed to push reforms aimed a streamlining local government. The group filed similar complaints Tuesday against five downstate assessors.
Blumenberg shot back at his accusers, saying they represent the same lobby that fought for past legislation that "caused a massive cost shift" in property taxes from business to homeowners.
State legislation already eliminated all but 43 of Indiana's 1,008 township assessors in July. But lawmakers decided to let voters determine the fate of assessors that handle more than 15,000 parcels, including Calumet, Center, Hobart, North, Ross and St. John townships in Lake County and Center and Portage townships in Porter County.
