| By Bob Weaver
Today is the last day for the WV legislature and the midnight scramble starts this evening.
A Senate bill that would allow cities and counties to merge services through metro governments - consolidate - has been put on hold by the House, and in retribution the Senate is holding up pay raises for county officials.
Sen. Brooks McCabe, a Kanawha County developer, who once used the "globalize" word to push consolidation of WV counties, is mad.
"If they're not willing to consider incorporating efficiencies, I'm not willing to consider giving them a pay raise," said Sen. McCabe, D-Kanawha, sponsor of the metro government bill.
"They must have more money now than they need," he said of the attempt by the state County Commissioners Association to block the metro government bill.
Most county commissions believe government should be kept in the communities it serves. It will cost less to operate.
In WV, the attack is on rural, poorer counties with Charleston's unfunded mandates, costly measures that keep eating away at their tax base and ability to provide services.
McCabe's commission that brings the consolidation measures to the legislature does not include any members from rural counties.
At least three different merge-consolidate measures died in the legislature last year.
The current version of the consolidation bill, a number of steps were added to reduce fears of "hostile takeover" of a county or city by a larger neighbor.
Consolidation proponents are using the same economic model used to consolidate schools - "economies of scale" - which promises less expensive and more efficient operation.
It never has with school consolidation.
Consolidation reviews of city-county governments around the US are inconclusive, but generally do not show any savings to the taxpayers.
Beside not being connected to communities, government just gets bigger and more expensive.
The Indiana
Policy Review Foundation gave a 2005 report to the Indiana General Assembly on the effects of consolidation:
- Significant gains in efficiency are unlikely or gains in perceived quality of service by no means assured.
- Creating larger police departments through consolidation would not lead to
lower cost.
- Participation in government decreased, in some cases lower voter turnout.
- In many cases morale problems with workers increased, with little impact on improved economic development for the region.
But the urge to merge, consolidate and globalize comes from the powerful marriage of large corporations with government.
"Bigger" brings growth and prosperity! (Not likely to working people and taxpayers, but to corporations and stockholders).
"Little" is for those who live in a fantasy world that small communities still matter and would like to have a decent paying job close to home.
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