Taxpayers rightly expect checks and balances in government. When government employees sit on the elected bodies that set the budgets and salaries they benefit from, taxpayers are not getting what they expected. Their confidence in government’s ethics and dependability are undermined by such “double-dipping.”
As Allen County Commissioner, I will champion a local ordinance and county personnel policy prohibiting this ethically questionable practice. County employees subject to the authority of the Board of County Commissioners would be prohibited from serving on an elected body that sets the budget and salaries for the department in which they work. Upon their election to such a body, the employee would automatically forfeit the prior position to which they were appointed or hired.
The State of Indiana already enforces a dual lucrative positions rule established under Article II, Section 9 of the Indiana Constitution. Allen County should do the same. I will champion a local ordinance the creates such a firewall between public employees and the budgets the live under.