Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Another winter punch heading toward Ohio
Man robbed at Tallmadge Avenue eatery
Complaints against officer keep coming
Police: Ohio girl dies after fall into snow bank
Four teens restrain man, take items from his Akron home
Police: Man tries to buy crack with credit card
Police say couple had 50 stolen hubcaps
Woman rescued after falling through rotting floor in house
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
NBC Releases Olympics Announcer List
Akron Zips:
Zips favored on road against MAC West leader
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Five local gridders to play in Big33
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Law, Love and Chocolate
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
OFCCP Report
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
Welcome to Ohio, where almost all government is local
Published on Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009
The fear (Ohio has 1,308 townships) is that academic research will underscore the heavy cost of the state's many layers of local government, fueling consolidation, a highly sensitive subject among township trustees. So the commission will meet at the end of the month to craft a mission statement.
And beyond that? What can't be ignored — by the commission, local governments or the legislature — is the pressure generated by the state's financial crisis. Larry Wolpert, the former state representative who sponsored the legislation forming the Commission on Local Government Reform and Collaboration and who now sits on the 15-member panel, is correct. The crisis is long-term. The commission must foster an honest conversation about the costs and benefits of the state having almost 4,000 taxing authorities.
Preserving accountability and quick response are important, as Cochran suggests. So is preserving service levels through cooperative efforts that direct increasingly scarce tax dollars away from political and administrative overhead to citizens.
More, maintaining overlapping layers of local government is ill-suited to the regional and statewide strategies needed to compete in a global economy. The layers present a significant barrier to economic expansion by frustrating companies examining sites in Ohio. In that way, accountability is made more difficult, response less timely.
The mission statement may serve a useful purpose. The commission's final report, due in July 2010, will end up in a legislature whose members have strong ties to local government. To have a chance of success, the panel must gauge carefully the potential backlash. After all, the legislature last session failed to abolish mayor's courts, another example of how 19th-century government survives in Ohio.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Rio Linda, CA
Posted 01:31 PM, 01/07/2009
There is one solution to the economic morass the state is in. What sets us apart from the South and the West.....Eliminate public sector collective bargaining.
Rio Linda, CA
Posted 01:31 PM, 01/07/2009
There is one solution to the economic morass the state is in. What sets us apart from the South and the West.....Eliminate public sector collective bargaining.
