What is “government transparency” and why does it matter?

• Government transparency is essential to good governance in the interest of the public.

• In the United States and around the world, people have created democratic governments so that governments will work on behalf of the people, not special interests or big corporations.

• Elected officials need to be accountable to citizens for their actions, especially when it comes to spending money gathered from taxes collected from the public.

• For elected officials to be accountable for their actions, government must be transparent, so that citizens can see what the government is doing and can participate in the decision-making processes of government.

Do we have transparency in St. Joseph County?

The St. Joseph County government has spent millions of dollars planning, promoting, and developing the Indiana Enterprise Center in violation of the public interest without transparency or accountability. Since 2016, over $10 million has been spent to convert farmland into industrial sites despite the public’s objections to this plan. Another $20 million is slated to be spent over the next 5-10 years if we don’t stop it, and the true public costs of building an industrial megaplex are likely to be much higher than that. So far, the Division of Economic Development has nothing to show for $10 million of spending: they haven’t even accomplished their own stated goals.

How has spending on development gotten so out of control?

A tax-increment finance district (TIF) is diverting tax money that would otherwise go to St. Joseph County into a special fund that is overseen by the unelected Redevelopment Commission, not by the County Council, which otherwise has fiscal oversight of government spending.

• The Redevelopment Commission has failed to exercise any effective oversight of spending of TIF funds.

• The Division of Economic Development has taken advantage of the lack of oversight to plan an industrial megaplex that far exceeds the amount of industrial development designated for northwestern St. Joseph County in the County’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan and by the 2016 Economic Development Plan that set up the current TIF district to fund industrial development.

• They have pushed ahead with this irresponsible plan by sidelining the Office of Planning, which is the government office that is supposed to guide all land use planning by the county. [Larry Magliozzi, former director of the Planning Department wrote this letter to County Council members upon his retirement which critiqued the creation of the department of Infrastructure, Planning and Growth.].

• By sidelining the Office of Planning, they have also sidelined the public. Responsible planning must include robust public participation. Since 2016, only one public meeting has been held in which members of the public have had an opportunity to respond in person to the plans for the IEC. In February of 2020, after nearly two years of pressure from OSAA, the Division released an “Area Management Plan”—written by consultants paid for out of TIF funds, in which the Office of Planning had no role—which was offered for public comment. The public submitted hundreds of comments on the plan. As of early April 2021, the Economic Development Division has made no response to those comments. A revision of the plan has been promised but has not been released. Meanwhile, money to promote the IEC continues to be spent.

• The 2002 Comprehensive Plan is a policy document that sets the vision for the county for 2002-2022. The plan was developed with high levels of community participation.  HNTB Corporation and the St. Joseph County Area Plan Commission, “Comprehensive Plan for South Bend and St. Joseph County, Indiana, April 2002,” https://www.sjcindiana.com/DocumentCenter/View/1172/Comprehensive-Plan-for-South-Bend-and-St-Joseph-County-2002?bidId=, accessed January 24, 2021

What Is OSAA doing to improve transparency and accountability?

• Pushing for public meetings

• Using APRA requests to obtain government records

• Giving the public a voice at public meetings

• Pushing for a new Comprehensive Land Use Plan

• Pushing the County Council to take more oversight of Redevelopment Commission spending and find ways to reclaim tax money from the TIF district.

• Following the money ourselves

What can you do?

• Join OSAA

• Attend public meetings; speak when you are ready

• Write and call elected officials and government employees

• Vote responsibly

• Run for office