TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP): Twenty business, education and community leaders concerned about Terre Haute’s financial challenges want the city’s mayor to create a commission to evaluate local government efficiency.

The group asked Mayor Duke Bennett in a letter to work with other local elected officials and the private sector to consider ways to make government more efficient “before further taxing our citizens.”

The letter was signed by representatives of the business and banking sectors, higher education and hospitals.

It says that Terre Haute’s “financial woes are real, well-chronicled and include a substantial cash deficit stemming from many consecutive years of deficit spending.”

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods college president Dottie King was among those who signed. She tells the Tribune-Star she loves “the idea of us working together” particularly the city and Vigo County officials.