While I agree that this Department of Local Government Financing works in a queer manner, I think you are wrong about several things.
Your first and second points are actually intertwined, and I am surprised you didn’t realize it. Merrian-Webster’s Dictionary of Law states that the relevant sense of the phrase rule of law means: “government by law: adherence to due process of law.” State law is based on the State constitution which is superseded by the Constitution of the United States of America. Therefore, the issue you state about the rule of law not being follow is true — to a point. It does NOT seem to be following the current codified legislation, but if you look more closely, the culprit that is breaking the rule of law is not the DLGF, but Indiana legislation.
Now I don’t know Indiana constitutional law like the back of my hand, but I happen to know the US Constitution pretty well. In that document, we establish that the country is in fact not a democracy, which is a form of government that the founders found distasteful and as vulnerable to tyranny as monarchy.(Quoting Jefferson: “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. “) We actually established a Constitutional federal presidential republic that has a democratic form of representation. Therefore, a law that was based on true “democracy” would be truly operating under the rule of men, which given the nature of democracy is apropros.
I think the purpose of this agency is a good one. But I think it could be done better. Either a constitutional amendment(state) or a state law mandating that local budgets be balanced, that tax raises require a 2/3 super-majority , and that non-essential local spending be shown to on net balance the revenue spent to capitalize them over the course of the bond issue. Also, requiring at least 90 days before public hearing for projects over a set dollar amount would help with local governments out-of-control with taxpayers money.
As far as competitiveness goes, the state of Indiana is not as competitive as it should be because of high burdens of taxation assessed at not only the state level, but also the local level. New Hampshire consistently ranks as a desirable place for high-tech companies and their employees despite the climate, remoteness of most of the towns, lack of amenities, big marketing money, etc. This is because it has no income tax, inventory tax, state sales tax, and the municipalities are extremely tight-fisted with taxpayer funds and therefore have low property tax rates(the Town Hall structure work well in most of New Hampshire due to the small town nature of most of the state).
I agree with your Pecha Kucha presentation that cities should attempt to get the best with their dollar. But I think they should look for a way to get a better product, or at least more iconic product, with the same funds – not necessarily the best with the more. Good design doesn’t have to be expensive, but given the structure of how infrastructure is paid for, few officials have incentives to look for the well-design, budget conscious solution. Cities also rarely haggle to get the best prices from suppliers beyond the bidding process, which is obviously flawed. With the library project being discussed, I don’t know the specifics of Indiana law regarding expenditures on non-essential government services. Maybe we should instead look to find new ways to fund these sorts of projects.
An example is the library. Maybe instead of government largesse, allow the people to support the library themselves. Charge $10 a year to check out books. Allow a coffee shop or cafe to lease part of the space to offer the wares to the library patrons. Offer special memberships for extended internet usage for a monthly fee. Take endowments from surrounding businesses and the developer, selling it as a way to increase foot traffic in the area. There are so many way to build a library and fund its operation, that this should not be an issue. I always say that you vote with every dollar you spend.
