It was almost inevitable that the vote to keep the Calumet Township assessor's position would drive the wedge between Griffith and Gary even deeper.

Those two communities are the only incorporated areas in Calumet Township, and there has been a move in Griffith for some time now to secede from the township and either create a new township or join an adjacent one.

The reasoning is that the people of Griffith are, to use the popular phrase, disenfranchised when it comes to township services. The township offices are mostly in Gary and those that are not are in the unincorporated areas.

Township Assessor Booker Blumenberg Jr. spent $30,000 on a mailing to "keep the township assessor's office in Gary," a not-too-thinly-veiled pitch to keep the assessor's job intact as well.

It worked. Of 35,719 voters, 59 percent of them cast a ballot to keep the office open rather than turn its duties over to the Lake County assessor.

Calumet Township wasn't alone -- Ross, St. John, Center and Hobart townships voted likewise, while only North Township voters chose to abolish the office.

There may have been reasons voters chose that way. Some said they were more comfortable with more local assessors, and that they were more responsive than the county office.

While this may in some instances be true, it is also an extra and redundant layer of government that is going to have to be paid for with more tax money.

In Griffith, 81 percent of voters chose to eliminate the office.

"The vote on Tuesday further vindicates Griffith's rationale to sever ties with Calumet Township," Town Council President Rick Ryfa, R-3rd, said.

This has been an issue that could potentially have split Republicans from Democrats, as the chairman of the county's Democratic Party is Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, who has a vested interest in Griffith remaining in the township.

But Ryfa said newly elected state Rep. Dan Stevenson, a Highland Democrat, has told him he will work to introduce legislation that would allow Griffith to leave Calumet Township and to eventually eliminate townships altogether.

Gary and Calumet Township officials say Griffith should be a better neighbor and help shoulder the burden for poor relief, one of the township's primary responsibilities.

But until those governments start showing greater fiscal responsibility, which they have yet to do, you can't blame the people of Griffith if they are tired of playing the rich uncle to the irresponsible, spendthrift nephew.

The opinions are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at markk@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-4170.