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Local governments must do more with less
By Steve Hoffman
Beacon Journal editorial writer
Published on Thursday, Oct 16, 2008
Results from the Nov. 4 general election are not likely to be kind to local governments and school districts with tax issues on the ballot. They are already being squeezed by rising costs and tight revenues, with little help from Columbus and Washington.
Then again, so are most families. To think that voters will react favorably to a majority of levy requests is, as a recent editorial in an area newspaper put it, ''foolhardy.''
The hope is, the Youngstown Vindicator went on to say, that ''when the votes from the general election are counted, the push for regionalization by the Regional Chamber could get a major boost — out of necessity.''
The chamber of commerce for the Youngstown-Warren area is pushing two big ideas. One is to bring a charter form of government to Mahoning and Trumbull counties, streamlining administrative functions to improve efficiency and accountability; the other is to form countywide school districts, combining administrative functions.
(The chamber has calculated that $22 million could be saved by school district consolidation in the two counties, enough to fund a college scholarship program similar to what Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic has in mind with Issue 8 on the city ballot.)
Chris Thompson, of the Fund for Our Economic Future, a collaboration of foundations throughout Northeast Ohio dedicated to strengthening the region's economic competitiveness, used the Vindicator editorial to pose the broader question: ''Will elected officials respond [to levy failures] by looking to fundamentally restructure the way the business of government is conducted in Northeast Ohio?''
Even before the economy went into a tailspin, a study funded by partners in Advance Northeast Ohio, a regional economic action plan, concluded that local government spending in the region was increasing at twice the rate of inflation, even as many communities were losing populations.
The figures for Mahoning and Trumbull counties are especially disturbing. Between 1992 and 2002, population in the counties, respectively, declined by 3 percent and 5 percent. Spending per person to fund local governments, special districts and school districts? In Mahoning, it was up 83 percent. In Trumbull, spending increased 72 percent.
Unless you want the business of the region to be government, ultimately an unsustainable proposition, such trends must be reversed. The good news is that many discussions on how to accomplish that are under way.
Charter government reform is also under discussion in Cuyahoga County, with a commission appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland and legislative leaders set to make recommendations by Nov. 7. In Summit County, some leaders are ready to move forward with further charter reforms, perhaps consolidating administrative offices and putting them under the county executive.
Summit County is also pushing a voluntary tax-sharing agreement among local governments to reduce poaching, the practice of luring a business from one community to another. The practice costs local governments money, but often results in little or no job growth.
Leaders are also working on regional planning to reduce sprawl, which generates high costs because it spreads an essentially stagnant population thinly across many separate communities.
Still, parochialism runs deep, making even small-scale efforts at cooperation to provide basic services difficult. It can take years for local communities to band together to form a joint dispatching center for police, fire and emergency medical services, let alone actually merge departments.
Voters have formed strong attachments, sometimes over generations, to particular school districts, townships or villages. Local officials like their jobs, and the prestige that comes with them. Within the context of their individual budget needs, pleas for tax levies represent sincere efforts to meet expectations for quality services.
All that is understandable, but the high administrative costs associated with many units of local government throughout the region hurts taxpayers dearly. Not only that, resources are drained away from vitally important goals, such as providing a high-quality education to all students so they can compete in a global, knowledge-based economy.
The high cost of multiple layers of local government and the options lost because of overhead diverting scarce revenues are coming out into the open, pushed there by reform groups in the region. What they cannot bring to light will be exposed by a tough economy and a string of rejected levies.
Hoffman is a Beacon Journal editorial writer. He can be reached at 330-996-3740 or e-mailed at slhoffman@thebeaconjournal.com.
Results from the Nov. 4 general election are not likely to be kind to local governments and school districts with tax issues on the ballot. They are already being squeezed by rising costs and tight revenues, with little help from Columbus and Washington.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 06:38 AM, 10/16/2008
We need to pay more taxes so Don doesn't have to.
Donofrio claims he follows "strict state standards", but he under-appraised property values of his political cronies. Here's one of multiple examples: Plusquellic's house is purchased for $269,000 then the fiscal officer appraised it for $182,000. Is this incompetent, unethical or illegal?
The corruption needs to end.
Posted 05:00 PM, 10/16/2008
A very poignant article, but we have talked about consolidation of government and services here in Northeast Ohio for years, to no avail. People love their townships, suburbs and local school districts, and will fight hand, tooth and nail to do anything other than give them up. They don't see, or don't want to see that these structures will fail and be lost anyway, as the economy continues to collapse, and there is no more money available to support their continued operation. And maybe it just has to happen this way. Necessity, after all, has an uncanny way of pulling sound and practical old ideas down from shelving forgotten under layers of dust and cobwebs, and casting them again in a novel and revolutionary light.