Akron
Beacon Journal...
Invest in
consolidation and collaboration among local governments
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Local governments absorbed heavy blows in the House budget bill. The
revenue-sharing Local Government Fund was slashed, for starters. The
House then eliminated by 2013 another revenue source for local
governments, the estate tax. That wasn’t contemplated in John Kasich’s
original budget plan. To make matter worse, the House stripped out the
governor’s proposal to shift part of pension costs from public
employers to employees, one of the ‘’tools’’ he offered to help locals
cope.
The House did add an innovative, if modestly funded, program to
encourage cities, counties, villages and townships to work together.
Despite much talk about collaboration, local governments combining
scarce resources to deliver jointly services at a lower overall cost,
progress has been slow. What the House included is a diversion of $50
million a year from the commercial activities tax to provide grants to
local governments willing to innovate.
To be sure, the grants pale in comparison to the reduction in the Local
Government Fund (from $665 million this year to $339 million in 2013).
The important thing is that the grants would provide a catalyst for
local governments to start thinking in a regional framework, moving
beyond artificial political boundaries created in horse-and-buggy
times. Once collaboration starts, long-term savings result.
The truth is, relatively small obstacles often frustrate efforts to
combine services. Grants would help with start-up costs, helping cover
expenses such as the purchase of new radio equipment for a joint
dispatching center or a feasibility study that finally persuades local
councils to take action.
Even better would be an expanded grant program, along the lines
suggested by the Center for Community Solutions in its 2010 report
‘’Thinking the Unthinkable: Finding Common Ground for Resolving Ohio’s
Fiscal Crisis.’’
By eliminating the Local Government Fund and diverting $300 million a
year to a grant program, the state still would realize substantial
savings. More, the center estimated that between 1,000 and 2,000 grants
of $250,000 a year could be supported, the amount substantial enough to
include school districts and special districts such as boards of health
and those delivering social services.
The Senate must at the least maintain funding for the collaboration
grants. Mere spending cuts are not incentive enough. Local governments
must receive help and encouragement to operate more efficiently.
Read it at the Akron Beacon Journal
|
