Make Local Government
Work Better for You
Most people are not aware of the Town of Avon boundaries and that city mailing addresses are determined by the servicing post office. The Town of Avon is the white areas on the map. In Washington Township, we have six different government entities and five of them issue building permits, contributing to traffic congestion. Only people that live in the white area are permitted to vote for the Avon Town Council. However, the decisions made by the Avon Town Council affects the entire community. Consolidation will protect our tax base from annexation by other municipalities, improve the quality of our services, put us under one coordinated development plan, use our tax dollars in a more efficient manner by reducing the size of local government, and give us all a voice and a vote in our Avon community.
Issues
How will consolidation affect taxes?
Protect our tax base from other municipalities.
As other municipalities continue to annex parts of Washington Township, they take tax dollars out of Washington Township. If the annexation includes tax incentivized financing (TIF), the annexing municipality can retain most of the taxes.
For example, if you live in Plainfield and your kids go to Avon Schools part, your property tax dollars are being taken out of Washington Township. Consolidation will not increase your property taxes because of the 1% property tax cap, if your home is valued at or above $138,000. Consolidation will only change how your property taxes are distributed.
Services in the unincorporated area of Washington Township.
Services in the unincorporated area of Washington Township: county sheriff, road repair, snow removal, library access.
Consolidation will improve the quality of these services in the unincorporated area of Washington Township. If you live in the unincorporated area, you may wait hours for a deputy sheriff to respond, unless it is an emergency then the closest police will respond until the emergency is resolved. The county only has five patrols on shift at any given time to cover the entire county.
Snow removal and road repair are slow to non-existent on the eastern side of the county. The county focuses more on the rural side of the county. Multiple people that live in Washington Township with Indianapolis addresses have been refused service in the Avon/Washington Township Library because library employees believed they lived in Marion County.
Traffic congestion
We have six different government entities in Washington Township and five of them issue building permits. Washington Township failure to operate under one Coordinated Development Plan has caused and contributed to significant traffic congestion, with developments built in areas that will not support the increased flow of traffic.
Why can't I vote for the Avon Town Council?
A voice and a vote in the Avon Community.
Most people do not understand that the US Postal Service determines your mailing address not your voting address. Most people that live in Washington Township are not eligible to vote for the Avon Town Council, but the decision made by the Avon Town Council have a significant impact on everybody that lives in Washington Township.
Will consolidation fix these problems?
How does the Government Modernization Act work?
To begin with, consolidation will not increase your property taxes if your home is valued at or above $140,000. Consolidation will only change how your property taxes are distributed.
The process can be initiated by the Washington Township Board and the Avon Town Council with approval of a resolution. These entities must then develop plan determining what the new government would look like. This plan would then need to be approved the Department of Local Government Finance. Both the Washington Township Board and the Avon Town Council must pass a second resolution approving the final product before it becomes a ballot referendum for the public.
The Indiana Government Modernization Act is attached. I have listed the relevant parts of the statute and I apologize for its length. I also provided links to the original Indiana Code.
Stan Albaugh for Washington Township Board
I am running for Washington Township Board on a platform to make local government work better for you. I am a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel with over 30 years active-duty service, and I have a Master’s Degree in Business Management. I retired in my wife’s hometown and have been a resident of Hendricks County for 16 years. I have been married to Brenda Wolven for 42 years, we have 5 grown children and 10 grandchildren.
I enlisted in the USAF after high school, earned my bachelor’s degree, and was commissioned an officer. I flew B-52s, B-1s, and E-3s with multiple worldwide deployments. Throughout my 30 years of service, I managed multiple organizations with multi-million-dollar budgets and multi-billion capital assets. After retiring from the USAF, I was hired by the U.S. Department of State and served two years in Iraq, where I directed and coordinated a multi-agency team effort to restore local government capabilities.
After returning from Iraq, my wife and I planted our roots here in Hendricks County. I obtained a real estate broker’s license and worked in the industry until becoming involved in politics after the 2016 election. I am currently a member of the Town of Avon Economic Development Commission and have very recently been appointed to the Hendricks County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals. I am focused on unifying the Avon community and making our local government work better for you.