A town hall meeting was held on October 21, 2008, at Broad Ripple High School. This meeting was in lieu of the monthly Broad Ripple Village Association (BRVA) public meeting. About 70 were in attendance in the mini-auditorium. It appeared that most of the attendees were not simply interested residents, but political people. The previous town hall meetings were entirely question and answer sessions, where residents could have access to public officials. This meeting was a debate on an issue that will be voted on in the November 4th election. It started with a presentation of two sides of the issue of the public referendum to eliminate the township assessors and make Marion County a single area for property tax assessments. Each side had 30 minutes to present their case. Then the floor was opened up to questions. It was clearly stated that only questions would be allowed. The first question went mostly unanswered. The second person to "ask a question" only used this as an opportunity to attack the other side with personal statements.

The basic issue of this referendum, which is far too involved to discuss in any real sense here, is the idea that local government in Indiana has too many layers and it out of date and to reclaim a fair and equitable system of taxing, the townships should be eliminated, versus the need for townships where officials know more about a smaller section of the county and can better assess the values of property due to a better understanding of the neighborhoods.

The last BRVA public meeting for 2008 will be back at the Indianapolis Art Center on November 18, 2008, at 7pm. This is the annual BRVA board election.