SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE Editorial: There are few less-democratic forms of government in a functioning democracy than the three-person commission, which is used by Lackawanna County and many other counties statewide…
The bigger issue in local governance is the fragmentation – multiple units of government that waste millions of dollars through redundancy in everything from tax collection to procurement to professional services.
Rather than simply examining the structure of the county government, voters should move to examine the scope of all local government, stop wasting money and consolidate government operations. With between 200,000 and 210,000 people, Lackawanna County would be a midsize city. It needs one local government rather than more than 40. For true reform, it would make far more sense to build a new house than to rearrange the existing furniture… (more)
The situation is even worse right here in Lancaster County. There are sixteen complete school districts, and part of a seventeenth; only one is really needed, and the efficiencies which would result could stabilize real estate taxes for some time.
To make matters worse, there are SIXTY separate municipalities: 41 townships, eighteen boroughs, and one city. Imagine the savings to taxpayers if all of that duplicate overhead were to be cut.