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A House Divided - a four-day series on consolidated government

Day 3: The cyclical city-county consoldiation trend may be turning upward again

By Leo Morris of The News-Sentinel

In 1805, New Orleans and New Orleans Parish, La., became the first city-county consolidated government. In the nearly 200 years since then, consolidation has been a relatively rare phenomenon, with only 22 to 30 approved, depending on who's doing the counting. Only four of the 17 efforts made in the 1990s succeeded.

But government merger tends to be a cyclical thing. The 1960s was a particularly fertile period, with seven city-county consolidations approved, including the Hoosier state's own UniGov in Indianapolis. But the trend was downward in the '70s and '80s, with only three successful efforts. Now, there's an upsurge. In 1997, voters in Kansas City/Wyandotte County, Kan., approved a merger. Louisville and Jefferson County, Ky., just consolidated. Talks are under way in Buffalo., N.Y., and Milwaukee, Wis.

"What is it that spurs consolidation efforts?" asks Jacqueline Byers, research director of NACo, the National Association of Counties. "In some cases, it is the continuing sprawl of the city into unincorporated areas of the county. In other instances, it is the continuing urbanization of the county that makes its services so similar to those provided by the city that the duplication makes consolidation inquiries inevitable."

Another reason many county governments look to consolidate with their major cities is economy and efficiency in service provision for their citizens. Many urban centers see suburban sprawl and the continuing migration of their middle-class residents to the suburbs, resulting in an eroding tax base.

Buffalo, N.Y., is typical of cities' plight today. Just from January to February of this year, a budget deficit of $29 million became a deficit of $45 million, and structural weaknesses mean the problem will only get worse. The Erie County executive, saying the region had "more government than it can afford," proposed a merger, an offer the Buffalo mayor reluctantly agreed to entertain. Similar problems are cited from Pittsburgh, Pa., to Fresno, Calif.

And counties?

Nearly 72 percent of them have budget shortfalls, according to NACo. "America's counties are facing difficult decisions," says NACo President Ken Mayfield. "With less money coming from federal and state governments, limitations on raising more revenue locally and efficiencies and costs savings exhausted while the demand for essential services is increasing, there could be serious consequences for millions of Americans in communities across the country."

Forty-five percent of the counties facing budget shortfalls are considering some sort of tax increase. The distressed counties are also identifying areas where services will be cut. Twenty-five percent are planning cuts in public health; 26 percent plan to cut highway and street construction, and another 24 percent will cut family and human services. "Counties are stuck in a no-win situation," Mayfield says.

Cities and counties looking to the state will find little help. States are currently facing budget shortfalls of $30 billion, and the figure is estimated to be $80 billion next year. Forty-nine of them are required to balance their budgets, and most have already depleted their rainy day funds, raised taxes and/or cut spending.

And as resources are depleted, the problems faced by local governments are growing in number and complexity. Critics say, according to Carl W. Sternberg of the University of Baltimore, "that because of small size and antiquated governing and administrative structures, many communities are unable to tackle complex and costly problems that spill across local boundary lines and that require timely collective remedial actions."

Despite all that, voters are reluctant to approve the consolidation solution, for a number of reasons:

* The fear, sometimes justified, that their taxes will go up. Often, says Wright State University Professor Sam Staley, consolidated governments "spend more, tax more and reprioritize spending. For example, an analysis of 164 counties in 26 Southern states found that consolidation and centralization led to higher expenditures by local governments. Another study of 24 states revealed that laws restricting new incorporations increased government spending by 29.2 percent on average. A third study analyzing 48 Southern metropolitan areas found that central cities that compete with other local governments spend less."

* The idea that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." In 1992, a federal commission studied the governments of Allegheny County, Pa., which had four cities, 128 municipalities, 84 boroughs, 42 townships, 136 single-purpose and 13 multipurpose special districts and public authorities, 43 school districts and 250 volunteer fire departments. Despite the intricate network of overlapping governments, the study found, "jurisdictional fragmentation has not produced functional fragmentation and, as a result of formal and informal cooperative arrangements among the jurisdictions, the efficient delivery of police, fire, street and school services is still possible."

* The belief that, as smaller units of government give way to fewer and bigger units of government, the accountability of officials will diminish and citizens' control of government will be limited. Democracy will be traded for efficiency, in other words. In Fort Wayne, during the great consolidation debates in 1990, county officials described that belief in terms of the loss of elected county officials, such as sheriff and treasurer, and their replacement with appointed department heads.

Former Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke wonders how much this belief is justified. "The idea is that the smaller the unit of government, the closer it is to the people. But in Indiana, that would be the township. And most people don't know which township they're in, let alone who the township trustee or assessor is. I think the shorter the ballot is, the greater the accountability and the better democracy works."

* The notion that in any merger, city residents will come out better, and county residents will get short-shrift; the main purpose of consolidation is to rescue the decaying urban center, and rural folks will end up paying a lot more in taxes for services they won't get.

This fear is probably even stronger here than in most places because: 1) In early consolidation talks, the city was emphasized; the Hudson Institute even said the mayor should replace the county commissioners. 2) In the days of aggressive annexation, the city strongly emphasized the "unfairness" of selfish suburban residents who enjoyed city amenities but didn't want to pay for them. 3) Fort Wayne is nearing the point when it will have 75 percent of the county's residents, and those still out there are already feeling a little left out. 4) Change is less welcome here than almost anyplace.

(Tomorrow: Local officials think consolidating more services would be a good idea, but they're reluctant to go all the way.)

Frequently asked questions: Will it save money? Can we turn back?

Some things that people wonder about concerning consolidated government:

* Will it save taxpayers money?

Probably not. A study in 1999 sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, among others, showed that costs usually don't go down after city-county mergers, and in some jurisdictions costs have gone up. This confirms earlier research. Initial savings brought from eliminating redundant departments are offset because wage equalization tends to favor higher salaries. And departments that are bigger find they can tackle bigger problems. They often do, and that costs more.

* Will some groups, such as minorities in the inner city or farmers out in the unincorporated areas, find themselves with little or no influence?

Depends. If it followed the common consolidation pattern, a Greater Fort Wayne or a Metro Allen County would likely organize into 15 districts of about 22,000 people each.

Officials could draw the districts any way they wanted. There could be pie-shaped wedges emanating from the center of Fort Wayne, with each district having about the same proportion of city, suburban and rural residents. Or districts could be drawn so that blacks in the city, for example, were the majority in one district and rural residents were in another one. Politicians have shown themselves to be very adept at clever line drawing, and many consolidation efforts have aimed to please groups that needed to be pleased.

* Won't we get stuck with something we don't want? And aren't we especially vulnerable if we live in one of the small towns such as New Haven?

Not really. Only one city-county merger ever has not resulted from a referendum of the citizens involved. Unfortunately for those trying to extol the virtues of consolidated government here, that lone exception was in Indianapolis, where then-Mayor Richard Lugar got the General Assembly to just make UniGov a reality. And all consolidated efforts -- at least the ones in the modern era -- have included opt-out provisions for small towns in the jurisdiction; most of those towns do opt out, at least at first.

* What's the most common form of consolidated government?

A single chief executive and a multi-district council with a few at-large seats, much like the current structure of city governments. The executive, who often keeps the title of mayor, has veto power, and the council exercises both legislative and fiscal functions.

Occasionally an appointive position is created, the equivalent of a city manager.

* If we start down this road, is there any turning back?

Certainly. Most consolidation efforts start with a commission or study group. Some recommend no action at all, and others recommend action short of complete merger. A task force in Pueblo and Pueblo County, Colo., recently urged city and county officials to start meeting regularly to define areas of possible cooperation.

* What's the biggest advantage of consolidating?

It's difficult to prove an exact correlation, but areas that have consolidated have generally prospered. Eliminating duplicative government helps a region focus logically on the biggest problems and most likely opportunities. Those who have to deal with officials -- especially companies looking to start up or relocate -- find it helpful to have only one set of clear rules to deal with.

* What's the biggest danger?

Though government gets smaller in one way -- with at least one layer removed -- it gets bigger in another, with fewer officials representing more people. If citizens find bureaucracies getting bigger and less responsive, they will find whatever they want from the government not worth the hassles in getting them. Then, through a process known as "rational ignorance," they become less and less involved in their government.

Neighboring Views

By Kevin Kilbane of The News-Sentinel

County council members have discussed restructuring Allen County government to make it more cost-effective and efficient. Here are two residents' thoughts on some of the ideas that could be proposed.

With local control, we all have a voice

Name: Mick Lomont
Age: 63
Occupation: Farmer

Lomont supports more effective and efficient government. He just thinks government decision-making should stay with people who really know the problems.

"I really like the idea of local control," said Nick Lomont, a former East Allen County Schools board member.

He would support consolidating city and county emergency-communications departments, insurance plans or purchasing.

Changing some elected county offices to departments with appointed supervisors also makes sense when special job skills are needed but not required by law, he said.

Fearing people would lose their voice in government, he would not want city and county planning departments combined. Similarly, he would like the number of county commissioners kept at three rather than reduced to one.

Smaller townships should not be combined into larger geographic units, he said. He predicts little or no savings if the county asks rural townships to share a pool of property-tax assessors.

Lomont would like officials to study moving the county courts, sheriff and other justice-system departments to a separate property-tax levy.

"It probably would make the public a little more aware of what that is costing us," possibly encouraging them to do more to keep people out of jail, he said.

By business standards, we're coming up short

Name: Irene Walters

Occupation: Executive director of university relations and communications, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne

Taxpayers have a right to expect the most cost-effective and responsive government services for their tax dollars. But Irene Walters questions whether Indiana's government structure can function effectively.

"It is clear that, when our city-county-township government structure is judged by business standards, we come up short," Walters said.

There has been talk of a state constitutional convention or other action to give local governments more freedom in structuring the way they operate and provide services, she said.

"In light of both state and local budget crises, such efforts to make government more effective and cost-efficient should be supported," she said. She would like to see an independent, non-partisan commission set up to analyze what form local government should take in Fort Wayne and Allen County.

"I think there needs to be knowledgeable people studying other cities and other states and (then) coming back and making a recommendation on a government reorganization plan," she said.