Opinion: South Bend Wants to Tax Transparency. We Shouldn’t Let Them.

Tim Cotton: Provided

South Bend Wants to Tax Transparency. We Shouldn’t Let Them.

By Tim Cotton

Chair, St. Joseph County Libertarian Party

District 2 Chair, Libertarian Party of Indiana

Let’s call this what it is: South Bend is putting a price on accountability.

Ordinance 43-25, now moving through the Common Council, slaps a new set of fees on public records—including up to $150 per body cam video. That’s per video. If multiple officers are involved in an incident, that price multiplies fast.

Think about what that means. If someone is assaulted by a cop, or wrongfully detained, or if a journalist wants to investigate misconduct—they’ll have to fork over hundreds of dollars just to see what actually happened. Meanwhile, the people responsible for that footage—government employees paid by taxpayers—face no such barrier.

Excerpt From Bill 43-25

This isn’t about covering costs. It’s about shielding the system from scrutiny.

And it doesn’t stop there. This ordinance also includes a ban on using certain public data for “commercial purposes.” That vague language gives the city the power to deny requests from journalists, researchers, or entrepreneurs—anyone they decide they don’t like or trust.

If you believe in open government, that should terrify you. Public information belongs to the public. Not to the mayor. Not to a city attorney. And not to some nameless bureaucrat deciding who gets to see what.

The City of South Bend isn’t just building a bureaucratic toll booth—it’s laying the foundation for a wall between the government and the people it’s supposed to serve. And if we don’t push back now, it will only get worse.

Let me be blunt: you should not have to pay your government to see what your government is doing. The people of South Bend already paid for the body cams, the servers, the staff salaries, and the overhead. Charging us again—especially when we’re trying to keep our officials honest—is not just wrong. It’s offensive.

This ordinance is government protecting itself from the public. It’s a transparent attempt to limit transparency.

We need council members to vote against this. Or at the very least, amend it:

Eliminate the outrageous video fees.

Strike the “commercial use” ban.

Require public review before any changes to the fee schedule.

This isn’t about red tape. It’s about control. And if you're okay with that, then you're not serving the people—you’re shielding power.

We were promised transparency. What we’re getting is a toll booth. And the people of South Bend deserve better.

---

Tim Cotton serves as Chair of the St. Joseph County Libertarian Party and District 2 Chair for the Libertarian Party of Indiana. He believes government works best when it’s limited, honest, and accessible to the people it serves.