It may seem like we are talking an awful lot about consolidation and sharing of services here at the Buckeye Institute. We are doing this because that is rapidly becoming one of the hottest topics of conversation throughout the state.
Not to put too fine a point on it but the status quo is crumbling and its time for a new architecture to be put in place.
As this piece from the Dayton Daily News indicates, eleven cities and two townships have formed a partnership called the Dayton First Suburbs Consortium. While it has been around for seven years, some of its ideas are gaining traction now in the age of austerity. ‘
“’We’ve been doing a lot of research and programs,” said new First Suburbs chairman Steve Byington, who also is vice mayor of Oakwood. “It never goes beyond the meeting.
‘We’re going to move away from that to identify one to two issues important to us. Say it’s transportation, roads and bridges, asphalt and salt — then come up with concepts we can formulate into a statement to send to our policymakers, whether it’s to the state or national level.’
First Suburbs originated as a term for the first ring of suburbs surrounding a core city, such as Dayton, although inclusion has been expanded to noncontiguous areas as well, such as Centerville and Clayton.
Other local cities involved are Huber Heights, Kettering, Miamisburg, Moraine, Oakwood, Riverside, Trotwood, Vandalia and West Carrollton. The townships are Harrison, Jefferson and Washington.
What they would like to do is find a way to combine services and save money rather than combine cities but even that is sometimes difficult.”
Of course, this is difficult. Change is always difficult, but local governments can no longer simply count on the state to continue revenue sharing. Rather, they are going to have to find inventive ways to stretch resources further than they have been stretched before.
With that in mind, the Buckeye Institute’s Joining Forces report outlines some of the ways that local government bodies, under the right circumstances, may be able to consolidate. While we warn against jumping headlong into this for many reasons, it is an idea that cannot just be shunted to the side because it makes people uncomfortable.
Consider that Ohio now has the sixth highest local tax burden of any state as a percentage of personal income. That is a serious problem and a disincentive for future job creators looking for places to set up shop.
As we outline in the report, Ohio’s state burden has been improving over the last few years. However, some of that may be pushed down to the local governments. Should local governments just pass along their costs and hike taxes, many of the savings from the state level may become more illusion than reality. That’s why we absolutely must look at containing costs at the local level through any and all means available.
Dayton suburbs seem to have gotten this memo. So are other communities around the state.
Check out this innovative idea percolating in Cuyahoga county as its County Executive, Ed FitzGerald has begun promoting what he calls the “Western Reserve Plan” where,
“the county would become a central service provider that communities can contract with, if they choose, to reduce the costs of what eventually may be 30 municipal services, without giving up their individual identity.”
The rough idea is to let the county actually compete with municipalities on offering services. If it can do it cheaper, then the municipalities can purchase those services from the county while saving dollars.
Obviously, it is way too early to tell if this idea is really workable or even has serious legs up north. But again, it’s all about looking at new ways to limit local government expenses while retaining services.
In a nutshell, it’s about taxpayer value and working to obtain it as soon as possible.
Some of these ideas will fail while others will work spectacularly well. Only time will tell, but the conversations are finally taking place and that is a necessary first step.
