A certain local public official likes to comment that many people tell him that government should be run more like a business. He then goes on to point out that what business would have 77 completely separate operating units within a geographic area as small as Lancaster County? There are 41 townships, 18 boroughs, one city, 16 school districts here, and the Lancaster County government. All of this adds up to an unbelievable amount of wasteful overhead and duplicated services.
There are something like 34 cities in the U.S. which have a larger population than all of Lancaster County combined. Very few people would seriously consider breaking each of these up into multiple separate governments.
The only thing that is achieved by having so many local governments is the 21st century equivalent of feudalism. In the name of “local control”, each little municipality is a fiefdom which is primarily interested in itself, often ignoring or outright denying the greater good of Lancaster County. To say this is counterproductive would be a serious understatement.
Local governments cannot raise taxes enough to pay for out-of-control health care and pension costs for their employees. Like it or not, the day is fast approaching when all of Lancaster County will be financially forced to take decisive action for the greater good of all, and start running our local government like the efficient business that it really needs to be.
Unfortunately the obvious answer of municipal consolidation will always be hampered by individuals attempting to protect their own interests.
Like Lancaster Newspapers, for example. Today’s editorial basically laughed at any politician who would be so silly as to push for municipal consolidation and reform. Consider why: right now, the county government controls a very large pot of taxpayer money, and as evidenced by LNP’s Convention Center boondoggle, the county government isn’t afraid to throw those dollars around. All the while, county government is (at least for most people) the least politically relevant government entity. Hardly anyone in this county attends commissioner’s meetings, and countians only become interested in the county government when the newspaper tells them to. These circumstances make county dollars the low hanging fruit for groups interested in soaking up tax dollars for profit.
Imagine if everyone in this county were engaged in a single political arena. The newspaper and its owners would have a considerably harder time pushing agendas contrary to the public interest. Plus we’d save a ton of money.