Merging localities seems unlikely

[Towntalk]

For our area ... Youngstown, Boardman, Austintown and Canfield, I'd safely say never. We've already seen Austintown and Boardman want as little to do with Youngstown as possable, with no chance of them ever changing their minds.

[irishbobcat]

Merging localities seems unlikely
Townships not eager despite easier process, potential cost savings
Sunday, July 10, 2011  03:11 AM
By Josh Jarman

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The state's new two-year budget makes it easier than ever for townships and municipalities to merge or share services to save money, but local government leaders say mergers likely will remain rare even if services suffer.

The budget approved by the state legislature and signed into law last month by Gov. John Kasich enacts new provisions that streamline the process for merging two or more townships, or a municipality and a township.

The theory is that as state funding becomes scarce, local governments can merge to reduce administrative overhead while still providing the same level of services.

That's harder than it sounds, say critics who question whether the savings are worth the divisiveness that can arise when two or more political entities become one.

Story continues belowAdvertisement  Susan Cave, executive director of the Ohio Municipal League, said she doesn't think there will be a rush toward consolidation.

The language added to the budget bill streamlines the process of mergers, by reducing the number of steps and creating a default governmental format that can be used to get the new entity up and running. But Cave said there will be a natural resistance because there have not been many successful mergers in the state to use as examples.

She mentioned Pataskala as one of the few that worked. It was created when the village of Pataskala merged with surrounding Lima Township in 1996 to stave off encroachment from Columbus.

That achieved the goal, but the merger also has led to disagreements among residents about the direction of the city.

"There are some very dedicated people who took on a lot of work to make the merger happen, but maybe they weren't as sure of the magnitude of their decision," Cave said.

Gene Krebs, senior director of government affairs and policy at Greater Ohio, a Columbus-based nonpartisan group that studies land use and economic development, said local government leaders can't let the past keep them from trying to innovate in an era of reduced revenue.

Krebs said that according to 2002 census figures, the state has 41.3 local governments per county, compared with the national average of 27.9.

"Do you really want so much of your tax money tied up in bureaucracy," he said. "Or would you rather return that to citizens in the form of lower taxes, or reinvest it in education and infrastructure?"

Matthew DeTemple, executive director of the Ohio Township Association, said the group was involved in the discussion about merger language but only because it could not win the bigger battle against the reductions in state funding to local governments.

"We signed off on the concept of townships merging because it would be a local decision and driven by the residents and trustees of the townships," he said.

John Carlisle, trustee in Licking County's populous Etna Township, was less guarded. He said township trustees currently do a lot of hands-on administrative work in addition to their day jobs, and because the new, larger townships would need just as many boots on the ground to perform service work, it might become too much for trustees to handle on their own.

Adding staff such as road superintendents and office managers to pick up the slack would wipe out any savings gained by reducing the number of trustees, he said.

"Instead of looking in their crystal ball, (the General Assembly) needs to come out and get in touch with what townships are doing," Carlisle said. "We could teach them a lesson about stretching a buck."

State Auditor Dave Yost, who was instrumental in pushing for the merger provisions, said the state needs to have a serious debate about the appropriate size of government.

He said there are more than 1,300 townships in the state, a third of which have fewer than 1,500 residents.

"The current state budget distributes a great deal of pain at the local level, and at the state level," Yost said. "One way to reduce that pain is to reduce redundancies and streamline government."

Rep. Mike Duffey said he had hoped to create incentives for mergers in the budget. He said governments need to look past the short-term drawbacks to see the long-term benefits of reduced taxes and a better environment for job creation.

"I think Ohioans know we have too much local government," said Duffey, a Republican from Worthington.

Pataskala Councilman C. Bernard "Bernie" Brush concedes that Pataskala has had some difficulty coming together as a community. But he thinks most residents agree that they would rather work out the differences among themselves than be subsumed by a growing Reynoldsburg or Columbus.

He said the differences arise between those who want to be "city mice" or "country mice," but said Pataskala has room for both.

"I think in the right spots, merging into a township could be a good thing," he said. "The voters have to see what's best for them."