For the past few weeks I’ve been mulling over the cost of decentralized government, wondering how to blog it. Then I picked up this morning’s Times and Tom Brokaw had beaten me to it!
He doesn’t mention Connecticut by name, but we have many problems similar to those he cites for New York, Iowa and the Dakotas.
“Here are a few examples. It’s estimated that New York State has about 10,500 local government entities, from townships to counties to special districts. A year ago a bipartisan state commission said that New Yorkers could save more than a billion dollars a year by consolidating and sharing local government responsibilities like public security, health, roads and education.
One commission member, a county executive, said, “Our system of local government has barely evolved over the past one hundred years and we are still governed by these same archaic institutions formed before the invention of the light bulb, telephone, automobile and computer.””
Each of our 169 towns and cities duplicates the efforts of its neighbors. We have fire and police departments along with road crews and recreation workers.
Some towns, West Haven comes to mind, have multiple fire departments within the same town, each with its own chief and commissioners!
In Connecticut, probably elsewhere too, the wealthy communities don’t want to throw their lot in with the smaller ones. At the same time little towns don’t want to be drowned out by their larger neighbors. I get it.
Having all these layers and levels of government is expensive. Right now it’s a luxury we cannot afford.
Geoff-
I think you’re right on with this, and I’ve often wondered why, at the very least, Connecticut doesn’t try something along the lines of a county-style of government.
Of course, there are many variables, but I’ll give you an example of why it’s often so frustrating: My sister lives in a town called Waxhaw, NC, which is in Union County. Her house is bigger than mine, and her property is about two acres or so. Her property taxes? About $1200 per year, if that.
Where I live, in West Haven (as you’ve mentioned, home to three separate fire districts) my house sits on 1/7 of an acre and my property taxes are just under $6000 per year.
Yikes.
I’ll be the first to tell you that there are a number of differences between Connecticut and North Carolina that aren’t as simple as “they charge less and we charge more”, but I wonder if it isn’t the shared resources of a county-style of government that allows them to have a lower cost of operation.
Geoff,
There is no question that our 169 cities and towns are way out of date. We thought we were clever when we abolished County government, but that created the huge problem that we “enjoy” today. The duplicity, the extra expense and the micro-governing is a colossal pain in the tuchus and if the legislature had one wit of creativity this 169 city/town government could become a sweet remembrance of a simple time in our history. It has become an unruly, unmanageable and a very costly “habit” and the old “home rule” folks may have to get their battle fatigues ready because the reality of this folly is now slapping us all in the face!!!