A bill aiming to make Indiana township government more efficient passed the state Senate local government committee on Thursday and will be moved to the appropriations committee.
Senate Bill 270 — authored by state Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell — will require the state Department of Local Government Finance to compile data on each township, except those in Marion County, by Dec. 31.
“This isn’t taking away small government,” Niemeyer said. “It’s making government more efficient in those counties but keeping the form of township government in place to take care of those things.”
The department will assign points to each township, and a government with at least four points is to merge with one that has less than four points.
According to the bill, the department will assign points for various reasons, including if a township did not provide assistance in 2023 or 2024, if it doesn’t manage fire protection or emergency medical services on Jan. 1, 2025, or if it didn’t file an annual finance report to the State Board of Accounts in 2023 or 2024.
The point system will ensure that township governments are performing at their best, Niemeyer said.
Township mergers are to be in effect by Jan. 1, 2028, according to the legislation. A merged township will have an interim government until a new trustee and legislative body are elected in the 2030 general election.
If passed, the bill will not affect township assessors, Niemeyer said.
“I feel very strongly about township government, and it’s a very strong form of government in Indiana,” Niemeyer said Thursday. “It’s one of the oldest forms of government in Indiana. It’s grassroots, people know what’s going on, and they have a say in some of the structure.”
Niemeyer doesn’t believe that township government should be abolished, he said, but he thinks that it could be consolidated in some areas statewide. Niemeyer said township governments provide essential services, such as help with energy bills for senior citizens and those on a fixed income.
The bill doesn’t apply to Marion County because Niemeyer said the criteria for consolidation wouldn’t make sense for that area.
Winfield Township Trustee Cody Reynolds testified to the Senate Local Government Committee about Senate Bill 270. He believes the legislation was built around data-driven metrics, particularly with service delivery, and he wants the committee to understand that the system has some weaknesses, and townships are important.
“When a single mother comes into my office, and if she has an eviction notice or her electricity is already turned off, my township has the ability to quite literally rectify that in minutes,” Reynolds said. “Not days, not weeks, not something you have to schedule in advance — minutes.”
Reynolds believes that the bill provides an opportunity to modernize township government. He urged legislators to pass Senate Bill 270 to ensure that townships exist in the future and can continue providing help to those who need it.
Jacob German, partner with Barnes and Thornburg, testified on behalf of the Indiana County Commissioners and said the organization recognizes that throughout the state, various opportunities exist for township consolidation and efficiency.
“We want to make sure that it’s done in the most appropriate manner and continue our partnership with those townships that have fire protection and (emergency medical services),” German said, “and that constituents and citizens are best served when it comes to township assistance and to make sure that any sort of township merger doesn’t in some way create an issue where an individual doesn’t get to vote or elect an elected official that provides those services.”
During the 2025 legislative session, state Rep. Karen Engleman, R-Georgetown, authored House Bill 1233, which aimed to dissolve township government and give an elected county trustee powers and duties regarding township trustees, fire protection and emergency services, according to Post-Tribune archives. The bill also said that on Jan. 1, 2027, all fire protection districts and territories would dissolve and fire services would be provided in accordance with a county plan.
The bill was sent to the local government committee but was never heard beyond that.
In 2011, former Gov. Mitch Daniels and the Kernan-Shepherd report called for the complete elimination of township government, spotlighting ways to make government more cost-effective and efficient, according to Post-Tribune archives. The proposal was never passed by the legislature.
Local Government Committee Chair and state Sen. James Buck, R-Kokomo, said Niemeyer’s bill is the best township bill he’s seen in the legislature.
“My effort is to get this out of committee,” Buck said. “If something is not done (about township government), there will be a bill that says they’re all done.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/16/indiana-senate-bill-to-merge-townships-passes-committee/
