county news online
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


 
site search by freefind
click here to sign up for daily news updates
senior scribes

County News Online

is a Fundraiser for the Senior Scribes Scholarship Committee. All net profits go into a fund for Darke County Senior Scholarships
contact
Copyright © 2011 and design by cigs.kometweb.com