Print
E-mail
Township Supervisors Cool To Consolidation
By Bradley Vasoli, The Bulletin
Most township supervisors across the state view consolidation of municipal governments reluctantly, according to a survey by the Harrisburg-based Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research.
Gov. Ed Rendell, D, in his budget address a week and a half ago, championed local-government mergers he said could reduce costs by bringing functions of multiple neighboring communities into single bureaucracies. He particularly stressed the idea with regard to school districts, but he also has encouraged consolidation of some of Pennsylvania’s 2,566 municipalities.
“It’s not only a matter of saving money on personnel, but it’s a matter of eliminating duplicate services so that entities that merge would be able to save significant amounts of money by consolidating services,” Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. “[The governor] believes that there are many, many municipalities across the commonwealth who could serve the taxpayers much more efficiently through consolidation.”
According to the institute’s survey, 72 percent of supervisors responding do not believe the number of municipalities in Pennsylvania is too high. For 60 percent of them, the idea of merging with another community is not an option they would entertain, while 30 percent said they might consider it. If consolidating their local government with another would entail a higher tax burden, 91 percent of them responded, the option wouldn’t win their support.
“[Mr. Rendell] thinks there are way too many municipalities and that they ought to be forced to merged,” Lincoln Institute Chairman Lowman Henry said. “Not necessarily; bigger is not necessarily better.”
In most cases, he said, the bigger jurisdiction a local government takes on, the bigger that local government becomes. Consolidation could relieve fiscal burdens for some insolvent or barely solvent municipalities, he added, but the burdens on less-strained governments (many of them less-densely populated townships) largely stand to grow.
Another concern Mr. Henry and many township officials have about consolidation pertains to who makes the decision. If municipalities end up merging, 90 percent of the supervisors said, they should do so of their own accord and with voter approval instead of mere compulsion by the commonwealth.
“It has got to be from the ground up, in other words citizen-based requests,” William B. Hawk, the appointee of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) to the State Planning Board, told The Bulletin. “To mandate it, that quite frankly is the government saying ‘We know better than you do.’”
The governor has not yet specified a plan to advance municipal consolidation. Mr. Hawk mentioned the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act as one law that could allow state officials to identify a city, township or borough as “distressed” and therefore a possible candidate for a merger.
Bradley Vasoli can be reached at bvasoli@thebulletin.us
Gov. Ed Rendell, D, in his budget address a week and a half ago, championed local-government mergers he said could reduce costs by bringing functions of multiple neighboring communities into single bureaucracies. He particularly stressed the idea with regard to school districts, but he also has encouraged consolidation of some of Pennsylvania’s 2,566 municipalities.
“It’s not only a matter of saving money on personnel, but it’s a matter of eliminating duplicate services so that entities that merge would be able to save significant amounts of money by consolidating services,” Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said. “[The governor] believes that there are many, many municipalities across the commonwealth who could serve the taxpayers much more efficiently through consolidation.”
According to the institute’s survey, 72 percent of supervisors responding do not believe the number of municipalities in Pennsylvania is too high. For 60 percent of them, the idea of merging with another community is not an option they would entertain, while 30 percent said they might consider it. If consolidating their local government with another would entail a higher tax burden, 91 percent of them responded, the option wouldn’t win their support.
“[Mr. Rendell] thinks there are way too many municipalities and that they ought to be forced to merged,” Lincoln Institute Chairman Lowman Henry said. “Not necessarily; bigger is not necessarily better.”
In most cases, he said, the bigger jurisdiction a local government takes on, the bigger that local government becomes. Consolidation could relieve fiscal burdens for some insolvent or barely solvent municipalities, he added, but the burdens on less-strained governments (many of them less-densely populated townships) largely stand to grow.
Another concern Mr. Henry and many township officials have about consolidation pertains to who makes the decision. If municipalities end up merging, 90 percent of the supervisors said, they should do so of their own accord and with voter approval instead of mere compulsion by the commonwealth.
“It has got to be from the ground up, in other words citizen-based requests,” William B. Hawk, the appointee of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) to the State Planning Board, told The Bulletin. “To mandate it, that quite frankly is the government saying ‘We know better than you do.’”
The governor has not yet specified a plan to advance municipal consolidation. Mr. Hawk mentioned the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act as one law that could allow state officials to identify a city, township or borough as “distressed” and therefore a possible candidate for a merger.
Bradley Vasoli can be reached at bvasoli@thebulletin.us
 |
 |
|
| Stimulus: Republicans Look To Capitalize On Democrats' Mistakes | Democrats Target Border Fence |
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of thebulletin.us.
You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
