The words 'merger' and 'consolidation' mean working together, the speaker said.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Regionalism, even to the extent of merging city and county governments, is occurring all over the country, and it could happen in the Mahoning Valley too, says Joan Riehm, deputy mayor of Louisville, Ky., Metro Government.
It's just a mind-set, said Riehm, who was Thursday's speaker for the Youngstown 2010 Moving Ahead series at Youngstown State University. Her topic was "Regionalism: What is it and Can it Work Here?"
But though regionalism and consolidation of governments is possible, it is not easy, based on the experience of Louisville, and Jefferson County, Ky., in which Louisville is located.
Merging Louisville and Jefferson County was debated for 46 years and voted on four times, in 1956, 1982 and 1983 before passing in 2000. Even then, it received only 64 percent of the vote, Riehm said.
Good result
But, she added, the results were worth the effort. She said efficiencies in government have generated savings that allowed the Louisville Metro Government to maintain and even increase services in some areas without increasing taxes.
One example of savings came from comparing budgets of the Louisville and Jefferson County police departments and finding that one was using 89 octane and the other 87 octane gasoline in their vehicles. By switching all 2,000 vehicles to 87 octane, $100,000 a year was saved, she said.
Merger and consolidation, which she said are just words that mean working together, often come when people realize that they can no longer accomplish what they want alone, such as establishing economic development that attracts businesses and creates jobs, keeping young people from leaving the area, and improving economic competitiveness and the quality of life they want.
When governments and communities spend a lot of time fighting each other, they don't have enough energy left to work together, she added.
After three failures, she said the merger effort learned what it was that the people wanted before they would approve it.
The merger did not affect the 94 incorporated cities in Jefferson; they kept their own elected officials, taxes rates and services. Schools were not involved.
All that was changed was the top layer of government at the county level and in Louisville.
Easy on the changes
The other thing learned in the failures was that people do not want to deal with a complex proposal with a lot of changes. People can see sharing services, but they don't want their local government touched. The merging of departments was left to the new Metro Government, she said.
Another benefit of the merger was the growth of Louisville from a population of 256,000, 67th largest city in United States, to 694,000, 16th largest city in the nation, making it competitive with larger cities.
"The psychology of thinking big makes you stand up and take risks," she said.
Riehm said many of the improvements made through consolidation could have been accomplished without consolidation if governments had been willing to work together.
She urged Valley leaders to visit other cities around the nation to see what they are doing, and to celebrate the successes that have already occurred locally.
She said one dividend Louisville leaders received from visiting other cities was the discovery that Louisville was doing a lot of things right. "That was a huge confidence boost," she said.
"Maybe you will find, as we did, that we were thinking too small," Riehm said.
alcorn@vindy.com
Friday, October 6, 2006
The words 'merger' and 'consolidation' mean working together, the speaker said.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Regionalism, even to the extent of merging city and county governments, is occurring all over the country, and it could happen in the Mahoning Valley too, says Joan Riehm, deputy mayor of Louisville, Ky., Metro Government.
It's just a mind-set, said Riehm, who was Thursday's speaker for the Youngstown 2010 Moving Ahead series at Youngstown State University. Her topic was "Regionalism: What is it and Can it Work Here?"
But though regionalism and consolidation of governments is possible, it is not easy, based on the experience of Louisville, and Jefferson County, Ky., in which Louisville is located.
Merging Louisville and Jefferson County was debated for 46 years and voted on four times, in 1956, 1982 and 1983 before passing in 2000. Even then, it received only 64 percent of the vote, Riehm said.
Good result
But, she added, the results were worth the effort. She said efficiencies in government have generated savings that allowed the Louisville Metro Government to maintain and even increase services in some areas without increasing taxes.
One example of savings came from comparing budgets of the Louisville and Jefferson County police departments and finding that one was using 89 octane and the other 87 octane gasoline in their vehicles. By switching all 2,000 vehicles to 87 octane, $100,000 a year was saved, she said.
Merger and consolidation, which she said are just words that mean working together, often come when people realize that they can no longer accomplish what they want alone, such as establishing economic development that attracts businesses and creates jobs, keeping young people from leaving the area, and improving economic competitiveness and the quality of life they want.
When governments and communities spend a lot of time fighting each other, they don't have enough energy left to work together, she added.
After three failures, she said the merger effort learned what it was that the people wanted before they would approve it.
The merger did not affect the 94 incorporated cities in Jefferson; they kept their own elected officials, taxes rates and services. Schools were not involved.
All that was changed was the top layer of government at the county level and in Louisville.
Easy on the changes
The other thing learned in the failures was that people do not want to deal with a complex proposal with a lot of changes. People can see sharing services, but they don't want their local government touched. The merging of departments was left to the new Metro Government, she said.
Another benefit of the merger was the growth of Louisville from a population of 256,000, 67th largest city in United States, to 694,000, 16th largest city in the nation, making it competitive with larger cities.
"The psychology of thinking big makes you stand up and take risks," she said.
Riehm said many of the improvements made through consolidation could have been accomplished without consolidation if governments had been willing to work together.
She urged Valley leaders to visit other cities around the nation to see what they are doing, and to celebrate the successes that have already occurred locally.
She said one dividend Louisville leaders received from visiting other cities was the discovery that Louisville was doing a lot of things right. "That was a huge confidence boost," she said.
"Maybe you will find, as we did, that we were thinking too small," Riehm said.
alcorn@vindy.com
Friday, October 6, 2006
Regionalism, even to the extent of merging city and county governments, is occurring all over the country, and it could...
