ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on author's experience as a local government official and political scientist to illustrate the complexities of local government and its relations with the state of Indiana. A closer examination of the county commission's place in local government, of the creation of solid waste districts as special districts in 1990, and of both entities' relations with the state of Indiana afford compelling evidence for the variety and complexity of state-local relations. Local government in Monroe County is, of course, a creature of state government. County government, the oldest of local government institutions, is marked by internal fragmentation as well. The state oversees the processes of county government in excruciating detail, from prescribing the form for payments toward veterans' funerals, to requiring public notice of county claims, to extensive audits. The Association of Indiana Counties estimates that about thirteen cents of each Indiana county government dollar is spent on compliance with federal and state mandates.
