Consolidation will reduce the cost of government

I support in concept the bill to create a commission to study possible consolidation of Topeka and Shawnee County governments, but as drafted it has some flaws.

My background is 28 years in city management in eight cities in eight states, plus six years leading a city-county operation in Denver.

I take it as almost an article of faith that consolidation will reduce costs and improve services to both city residents and county residents. You have to look no further than the multiple mergers and acquisitions of the private sector.

Three million people have been laid off during the past four years, with another 14 million expected to be outsourced over the next decade. There are lessons to be learned there that are applicable to consolidation.

Mergers and acquisitions result in mass layoffs. The reason is pretty clear --- duplicate positions can be eliminated.

That is why consolidation will be so effective over time. The county and city each have many staff positions that duplicate each other --- clerks and deputy clerks, directors of parks and recreation, superintendents of parks, superintendents of recreation, public works directors, etc.

It is important to make the bill as easy to implement as possible and to make approval by the voters as easy as possible. The current bill doesn't do that.

The voters of the city and county, voting together, approved the creation of a commission to study how to consolidate functions or the entire county. But the draft bill changes how it will all work, to the detriment of people in the city and in the county.

This bill provides that whatever the final result of the consolidation study is, the voters inside the city must approve it to be effective, AND the voters outside the city must approve it. Since there are 45,000 people outside the city limits and 122,000 people inside the city limits, those 45,000 can veto what the 122,000 want. That's giving the outside voters about three votes for every vote inside the city.

That is counter to any precept we have about elections in this country. When we elect our representatives, we don't require that all precincts must favor a candidate before they are elected. We don't give a veto to any smaller unit of government over any bigger unit of government. Majority rules. Majority of the whole and not of each of its pieces.

We have in the U.S. Constitution some definitions of equal treatment. The Fourth Amendment and the 14th Amendment provide for due process and equality of treatment. If two families live side by side in identical houses built at the same time and the city limit boundary is in-between those houses, then the in-city family pays, for example, 100 percent of the costs of the city police department and 70 percent of the costs of the county sheriff's department. The county family, on the other hand, pays 30 percent of the cost of the county sheriff's department and zero percent of the city police department. That isn't equitable impact. It is clearly disparate.

The sheriff's budget is about $8.2 million and the city police budget is about $23.3 million. So the 122,000 city residents pay $238 per capita for police and sheriff services and the 45,000 county residents pay $55 per capita for their police and sheriff services. Ernie Mosher, the former executive director of the League of Kansas Municipalities, did a study of consolidation. He made many strong points of the benefits of consolidation, including the ability to have professional management and an enlarged, more representative governing body.

He also proposed an amendment in case consolidated law enforcement were included in the final plan. This amendment would provide that the consolidated city-county government would levy property taxes for law enforcement purposes on the entire county, including cities of the third class.

To read Mosher's study, go to CJOnline Keyword: Mosher study.

It appears that the bill also allows the residents of Silver Lake, Rossville, Willard and Auburn to vote on the issue of consolidation and on the governing body of the consolidated entity, but exempts them from any taxation being applied. We have a long tradition against taxation without representation, and we should also have an objection to representation without taxation.

John Arnold is a former chief administrative officer for the city of Topeka. He continues to live in Topeka and is an author and public speaker.

Copyright 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.