Consolidating Services
Looks like Walker is spurring discussions at all levels that should have taken place years ago.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett called Monday for Milwaukee County communities to consider consolidating fire departments and employee health insurance, in addition to his previous suggestion to study merging public health and public works departments.
Several suburban leaders and both county executive candidates voiced support for the idea. But the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council, consisting of all the county’s mayors and village presidents and the county executive, postponed a vote on the issue to comply with the state’s open meetings law.
Among the driving forces behind the push to consolidate is Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed 2011-‘13 state budget, which would chop state-shared revenue and several other forms of state aid to local governments.
In a conversation with a local town supervisor who stated “this is going to make our jobs a lot harder,” I replied…“no, it is going to force us to make the hard decisions we were elected to make and should have made long ago.”
Had those in elected office been thinking like this all along, we would not be in the situation we are in.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 15, 2011 at 0712 hrs
It seems like just a few months ago that conservatives were in favor of small government and local control. Now it turns out that you’ve been in favor of increasing the size of governments and taking control away from the local level all along.
We’re already losing local control of taxation and school spending and county control of income maintenance and employee contracts and now you want to strip the townships of any say at all in the distribution of services and hand it over to the cities they surround.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 15, 2011 at 0741 hrs
grumps:
Republicans are in favor of small government and local control of those things that the government should not be involved in.. Fire protection, public works (I presume this means water, snow removal, road maintenance), and public health are the sort of function that it is proper for government to be involved with. As for insuring the employees in those ares, it comes down to economics of scale, the more you but, the less expensive it becomes.
I do not know if you are disingenuous or really have no clue about the difference between what your opponents think should and should not be done in a centralized manner.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 15, 2011 at 0847 hrs
I presume this means water, snow removal, road maintenance)
Actually, EACH of those functions could be handled by private industry.
Those ‘burbs should remember the fiasco that is MMSD and establish an agreement which defends against another one.
Posted by dad29 on March 15, 2011 at 0921 hrs
grumps
I don’t know what you’re thinking, but the article is talking about redundancy in things like having a township public works department, a city public works department, and a county public works department. In certain instances consolidation makes sense, and actually reduces the size of government.
Walker’s path is actually empowering local governments in tax and revenue options.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 15, 2011 at 0922 hrs
Taking advantage of efficiencies & economies of scale - especially when regard to the irregular boundaries of districts - is a pragmatic solution that in absolutely no way conflicts with local control or smaller government philosophies.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 15, 2011 at 1119 hrs
So Jason, giving control of Township services to the county somehow magically translates to greater township control?
And Daddio, you might want to look around in the Janesville Gazette to see how well privatized snow removal worked out for the 12 townships in Rock County that tried it. I know at least one Town Clerk who still flinches every time the phone rings because the private contractors just can’t do what government can.
elovrich, I’ll just assume there’s a glaring typo in what you finally wrote and roundly ignore it. You appear to be saying that local control only applies to things that government shouldn’t be involved in. If you carry out that “economies of scale” argument far enough you get to single payer national health care.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 15, 2011 at 2017 hrs
“If you carry out that “economies of scale” argument far enough you get to single payer national health care. “
With one key difference. Everybody who uses public services is expected to contribute to their cost.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 15, 2011 at 2030 hrs
Privatize water, snow removal and road maintenance? NO THANKS! So then we have to worry about the private companies giving money to the mayors campaign trying to get contracts? NO THANKS!
If I recall correctly, didn’t West Bend used to have privatized garbage…it’s now city service again…some jobs don’t work privatized…some jobs are just better as city run…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 15, 2011 at 2151 hrs
Snow removal did not work too well this year when run by govt either. I had to remove snow on my road at 1100 on a monday because the drifts were impassable. I had a car in my front yard and 350 accidents occured in Waukesha that 24 hour period. I wonder why…?Oh wait it was MLK weekend and no county or other govt services ran that day. The rest of the planet had to work but the unions said no and so during the big snow storm nothing got plowed. Go into town and the lots were all cleared for business but that was private contractors clearing that.
Posted by fishaddict on March 16, 2011 at 0846 hrs
In all actuality, if many of the govt workers had competition that was allowed to work in those areas and they had to please the customer they would fail miserably. Post office vs. UPS…which one is running in the red and which one is not…? I don’t think any govt. IT project has finished on time and within budget and then actually worked. How about radio comms. I do not think it is the boots on the ground folks all the time because I have been there and have seen scope creep that would make you blush. I have also seen so much waste it would also make you blush. The trouble is that when you make a deal with the devil as teachers and others have done with the dems they get theirs but they also get all the other stuff that comes with them. Want to know why you are having so many issues with kids in the class? Just look at the general population. Those same kids that are uncontrolable in the class are the same way at home and so are the parents. You can only do so much with a piece of garbage. When that becomes a way of life it can’t be turned off when they enter the class. We have been grooming kids to be useless for some time now and I am afraid for many it is too late. We give more rights to criminals than victims, we have no shame, we have and encourage the entitlement mentality, we have a system where it is more desirable and profitable to not work. Why go to school and learn how to be a functioning, contributing, and helpfull member of society. following decorum and the rules are for the birds. If I fail someone will clean up the mess…I can see how we got here but can see no soundbite, painless, or even tolerable way out. It has become ingrained in our way of life and drastic measure will need to be taken. I had this conversation not too long ago with a family member that in the event of a crisis, he is to gather his family and equipment and head out to the compound because we have the ability, where with all and capability to defend and thrive with our families, where as the location he is in will rapidly be overrun with what society has become.
Posted by fishaddict on March 16, 2011 at 0902 hrs
The idea the snow removal, road maintenance and those sort of services are always better provided by government workers or always better by private companies is, in both cases, idiotic. Or if that’s too strong of a word, then naive, simplistic and ignorant.
Absent effective management and/or oversight, it really doesn’t matter much at all which way you go, they both will frequently lead to waste, corruption or inefficiency.
Competition is the best way keep things honest and provide a check to the system. Privatization tends to allow competition to arise. Public sector unions explicitly prevent it.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 16, 2011 at 1051 hrs
Locke, hence the boots on the ground bit. Many times it is the project management or lack thereof, p*ss poor planning, lack of effective contractural obligation and lack of willingness to go above and beyond to get the job done. In govt., many times it is all of the above. Trouble is that if I have an issue with the phone company I can switch. If I have an accident on the road due to the fact that it is midday on a monday and the plows have not been out due to a holiday what is my recourse? You are correct in your assessment that lack of competition is a key but I posit that lack of accountability is also a big player in the equation.
Posted by fishaddict on March 17, 2011 at 0736 hrs
Some interesting points on this one.
I would say that competition is generally a good thing. I would argue that some times a goverment unit might even be one of the competitors. Schools come to mind. A lot of public fire departments actually function this way. The Town of Polk in Washington County is served by multiple fire and rescue companies (or at least it was several years ago).
Some times, though, consolidation is not a good idea. I grew up in the village of Jackson. Until 1976 we were served for ambulance service by the city of West Bend. So sorry, but that worked very poorly. Jackson was too small for a private company to make a profit and it was determined that some service was required. The Jackson rescue squad grew out of that. Jackson also contracted with Slinger at one time to provide garbage pick up. Lasted about two years before Slinger wanted different service and Jackson was not making out financially as was hoped. And local politics plays a role too. If a village and a town can’t agree on anything they will end up with separate everything.
As for MMSD it is a boondongle beyond all hope. The state (read DNR) thought it best to force the burbs to go to them for service. 15 years of court battles later and the original problems still exist.
Locke, how do unions stop competition in the public sector? Given the resources I would be fully in favor of Wisconsin contracting with other states to take their unemployment claims for a price. I think we could do it better and make a profit for the state in the process.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on March 17, 2011 at 1612 hrs
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