November 16, 2014
Marc Chase

Lake County taxpayers should know the bloated and wasteful fiscal history all too well. Violations of public trust and taxpayers’ wallets have abounded where county and some municipal government is concerned.

But the spending transgressions of past and present shouldn’t distract from officials who refreshingly act in the best interest of taxpayers.

In his first year in office, one such Lake County elected official is showing signs of light in what late last year had become one of the darkest corners of local government.

Lake County Surveyor Bill Emerson Jr. was elected to office in January — not by voters but by a caucus of Democratic precinct committeemen.

Emerson was chosen by his party to fill the void left by the sudden December departure of former Surveyor George Van Til. Van Til had just pleaded guilty in Hammond federal court to stealing from taxpayers — via felony wire fraud — by using county employees and resources in the furtherance of his political campaign.

So Emerson faced an uphill struggle of regaining public trust for an office tarnished by felony corruption.

Let’s not deify him yet. But with the first year of his freshman term drawing to a close, Emerson has made some pro-taxpayer moves that suggest a new culture in a previously beleaguered office.

In one such move, he did away with the flat-rate contracts the surveyor’s office was paying to a professional land-surveying consultant. That 2013 contract was costing taxpayers $3,380 per month.

Though he says the services of a professional surveyor remain necessary, Emerson is now paying a surveying consultant an hourly rate of $64, just for hours worked. The switch has saved taxpayers $19,412 over the previous year.

Emerson also is pushing his staff — you know, the ones already on the government payroll — to handle more work in-house that previously was farmed out to contractors.

For years, millions in Lake County tax dollars have flowed to outside consultants for work that supposedly couldn’t be handled by the legions of patronage workers in the Crown Point-based county government center.

So it’s refreshing to see a political leader who seems intent on changing that culture.

When Emerson first took office, he eliminated the open position of what would have been his own administrative assistant. He decided the county surveyor really didn’t need a secretary to manage his calendar or take his calls. Emerson prefers to do it himself.

That move alone freed up about $35,000 by eliminating the position’s salary, benefits and payroll taxes, according to county estimates.

We’re not accustomed in Lake County to witnessing real-life examples of good government in action unless state or federal law compels it.

Emerson has yet to face his first trial by electoral fire. That won’t come until the 2016 general election, assuming he plans to run in that election cycle.

If he continues to answer what had been embarrassing corruption of the office’s past with constructive and fiscally responsible policy, there’s no reason why Emerson shouldn’t see his surveyor tenure extended.

Original article can be found here.