Lake County taxpayers take note: Your board of commissioners refuses to study the possibility of saving your money by consolidating redundant court facilities.
The commissioners voted 3-0 Wednesday to reject a move by the Lake County Council to study the possibility of closing satellite courthouses in East Chicago, Hammond and Gary and consolidating them with the main court facility in Crown Point.
It's a case of intentional blindness in government decision-making that no county resident should be willing to tolerate.
Not even Republican Commissioner Jerry Tippy, a first-year commissioner who in the past regularly advocated for trimming local government fat, would vote in favor of exploring a study into the matter.
"I'm for consolidations where they make sense, where we do not drastically lose services, where costs are lowered," Tippy said.
Yet he voted against the study.
Tippy's reasoning fails to pass logic's litmus test. Neither the commissioners, nor anyone else, knows what truly makes sense because the matter hasn't been explored.
Several years ago, a good government study funded by the county's largest corporate taxpayers recommended the county consider closing the satellite courts to save money.
The county never followed through.
Lake County Councilman Eldon Strong, R-Crown Point, took another crack at the notion by pushing a proposal to study the consolidation through the council last week.
Strong's exceptionally good move toward better government was rejected outright by the three county commissioners.
It's easy to see why commissioners Mike Repay, D-Hammond, and Kyle Allen, D-Gary, turned their backs on the proposal.
Their districts contain the satellite courthouses in question, and both have shown a past proclivity for protecting patronage turf over the county's greater good.
Tippy's district lacks a satellite courthouse, which means he's playing politics by not being open to a study or is just flat-out pulling a blanket over his head. Either scenario is unacceptable.
There's plenty of cold, hard math at play to warrant a consolidation study.
Some critics of consolidating the county's satellite courts argue it could cost $10 million or more to expand Crown Point courtrooms to accommodate a consolidation.
The real figure won't be known because county commissioners refuse even a cursory look.
Still, any expansion costs would be one-time expenses. Meanwhile, the satellite courts collectively cost at least $5 million every year in maintenance, utility and repair work alone, not to mention the manpower working in each of the buildings.
Ultimately, money could be saved with government officials willing to look at the big, long-term picture.
The Lake County commissioners just demonstrated to their constituents they're not interested in the big picture.