Police, fire mergers blur local boundaries

Some suggest combining into bigger cities

 

Pension and health care costs have begun eroding a few of the borders for the more than 40 municipalities in Northern Kentucky.  The past decade has seen rising costs accelerate department mergers among Northern Kentucky cities, particularly fire and police departments.

 

Some believe that foreshadows more mergers between cities and countywide services. Others hope to keep their small-town identities.  Proponents of consolidation say the two police mergers in Northern Kentucky that took place in 2008 saved the four cities involved money and put more police on the streets.

 

Read full article here:

http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20090209/NEWS0103/902090356

CCR holds Citizens Connect on

Local Governments Collaborating for Savings

March 26, 2009

 

What better place than the Deer Park/Silverton Fire Hall to have a discussion about Shared Local Government Services in Greater Cincinnati.  The Fire Hall was the venue for last night’s Citizens for Civic Renewal (CCR) Citizens Connect forum on Shared Local Government Services.  The event featured a presentation by Silverton City Manager, Mark Wendling, who answered the question - When the economy gets tough; households go to WalMart to buy in bulk and save money - Where do local governments go to find similar savings?  Mr. Wendling discussed how the City of Silverton has been finding the bulk buying bargains for years.  “As a small city with a modest tax base, we have to take advantage of almost any opportunity to maintain high quality city services at lower costs,” said Wendling.  For Silverton those opportunities include a joint fire district with the City of Deer Park, contracting building inspections with Hamilton County and joining a local government consortium that provides income tax collection service.

 

After Wendling’s presentation, participants identified other benefits of sharing services beyond the more obvious benefits of efficiency and improved quality of service.  For example, sharing between jurisdictions can foster new ways of thinking and open new lines of communication.  Sharing can also help Greater Cincinnati’s local governments cooperate better on regional issues like transportation and even become more effective at lobbying at the state level.  Participants said that in order to develop more sharing, the region needs to continue to tell the story of shared service success stories and broaden the tent to include other interested parties such as unions and other governmental entities like school districts.

 

Thanks go out to the Seasongood Good Government Foundation, Management Partners and the Center for Local Government for sponsoring last night’s event.

 

OK - lets shift from the mundane of joint fire districts to daydreaming visions of what an ideal regional government for Greater Cincinnati would look like.

 

Just as a starting point could it look like:

Minneapolis' Metro Council?

St. Louis' Bi-State Development Authority?

Summit County, Ohio's Charter Government?

 

Others?

The Twin Cities (not Minneapolis) Met Council may be a good starting point -- though for all its vaunted effectiveness, it has done a miserable job of reining in sprawl. I don't know much about the  St. Louis model, but I imaging it would be instructive because it is bi-state. You don't need a unified government. You need a coordinating entity to deal with tax-sharing and delivery of services across boundaries.

New York Times May 31, 2009

Westchester: Costly Layers

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI

There is no shortage of government in Westchester County. So much so that county officials have scheduled a conference on Tuesday to talk about ways to streamline the county’s costly layers of local government. Targets for potential consolidation will not be hard to pick.

 

The Town of Eastchester has three police departments and three fire departments in a five-square-mile area. (The town, population 31,000, also encompasses the villages of Bronxville and Tuckahoe, each of which provides its own police and fire services). In the Town of Greenburgh, which has 6 villages, there are 3 paid fire departments, 6 volunteer fire departments and 7 police departments. In all, Westchester taxpayers help finance 42 police departments, 46 school districts and 54 fire departments in 6 cities, 17 towns and 22 villages.

 

But some local leaders say county officials looking for places to cut should glance in the mirror. One proposal that has been floated would merge Rockland and Westchester Counties. Others are pushing to phase out county government, as Connecticut did decades ago. Paul Feiner, Greenburgh’s town supervisor and a leading proponent of the plan to eliminate county government, said it would significantly reduce the $500 million a year that Westchester taxpayers now pay for county services. “Everything needs to be put on the table,” Mr. Feiner said.

 

 

OK - lets shift from the mundane of joint fire districts to daydreaming visions of what an ideal regional government for Greater Cincinnati would look like.

 

Just as a starting point could it look like:

Minneapolis' Metro Council?

St. Louis' Bi-State Development Authority?

Summit County, Ohio's Charter Government?

 

Others?

 

Sure, Louisville and Lexington...Charlotte/Mecklenburg and others have this style of metro government...but would that fly in Ohio with the tradition of home rule? that seems to be such an emphasis here that i don't know if people would give it up.

 

besides, here in Cincy it seems like the suburbs hate the city and the city doesn't really get along with the 'burbs.

I have a delayed reaction regarding UncleRando's post from February.

 

I was shocked to see a city manager actually promoting consolidation in Northern Kentucky. Personally, I'm a huge proponent of consolidations. I think NKY mergers would also be very positive for Cincinnati, as a more unified NKY government would be able to bring in more business from outside of the region, as well as money from Frankfort. This would have a positive spill-over onto Cincinnati (as opposed to today, where they mostly function as disorganized bedroom communities).

 

Will cities merge?

Some local city officials see merged cities as an inevitability. Newport City Manager Tom Fromme said the consolidation of services and even cities should be explored among the river cities along the Ohio River. Ludlow, Covington, Newport, Bellevue and Dayton share many of the same issues and streets, Fromme said.

 

Combining the populations of the river cities could give Northern Kentucky more political clout, like Lexington and Louisville enjoy by virtue of being larger cities. A combination of all five river cities would create a city with more than 75,000 people.

 

"Northern Kentucky doesn't have that major metropolitan city. There are a lot of advantages to having that major city," Fromme said. "I really don't feel we have an adequate voice in Frankfort. I don't think we have one major city. It is Northern Kentucky. It is a conglomeration of a bunch of small cities."

 

Anyway ... would such a thing even be possible? How would municipalities merge if they're in different counties? I had assumed that the Licking River's division of Kenton and Campbell counties would be an insurmountable bar to any consolidation attempts.

There is actually been talk of consolidating Campbell and Kenton Cty and maybe even Boone. There are among the smallest counties in KY by land area. In fact, KY could use quite a bit of county consolidation.

Boone, Campbell, and Kenton Counties already have a joint sewer district.

City, county should study merger

Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Doug Bolton

 

Dayton-area officials, facing a crisis in the wake of business exodus from their region, are seriously talking about merging local governments.  Governments in Hamilton County – not experiencing a mass business exodus – should start seriously talking about merger to head off a potential crisis caused by deep cuts in government services that will be required over the next several years.

 

It’s as simple as this: With Hamilton County expecting a 20 percent reduction in revenue next year and the city of Cincinnati projecting much the same, both governments would be better off merging their operations in order to navigate this difficult environment.

 

Read full article here:

http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/06/29/editorial1.html

My scheme for initial consolidation -

No school consolidation initially unless requested.

 

First, Columbia Township disappears - it should be divided between the contiguous cities (Cincinnati, Mariemont mostly).

Second, small inner-ring villages should be given relatively friendly terms to join Cincinnati - Elmwood Place, Silverton, Deer Park, Lincoln Heights, St. Bernard, Norwood, et al.

 

July 1, 2009

 

 

Loveland considers joining income-tax collection consortium

 

By Jeanne Houck

[email protected]

 

Loveland City Council is scheduled to vote July 14 on whether to pay an agency to collect city income taxes - a move city officials say would save Loveland about $85,000 a year beginning in 2011.

 

The city is considering joining the Regional Council of Governments to participate in the organization's Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA), which collects income taxes for 162 cities and 51 counties in Ohio.

 

"Because of its size, RITA is able to enjoy a number of economies of scale and in most cases is able to collect income-tax dollars more efficiently and cost-effectively than cities can do on their own," Loveland City Manager Tom Carroll said.

 

If Loveland decides to participate in the Regional Income Tax Agency, taxpayers will file their city income tax returns and payments directly with the agency, beginning next January.

 

Loveland would retain a local tax clerk to help people with questions.

 

It would cost Loveland between $120,000 and $130,000 annually to contract with the Regional Income Tax Agency.

 

Savings will come not only from reduced costs collecting income taxes, but from associated changes in the city's Finance Department.

 

The changes include the elimination of one job and the conversion of another to a position with lower pay. Because one employee is retiring and others probably will be promoted, no current full-time members of the Finance Department will lose their jobs or be assigned to lower-paying jobs.

 

The Regional Income Tax Agency is the only tax-collection agency in the country other than the Internal Revenue Service with access to IRS filing records, which makes it easier to track down people who owe income taxes.

 

Loveland residents as well as non-residents who work in the city whose employers do not withhold Loveland taxes must pay income taxes to Loveland.

 

The city has a 1 percent income-tax rate, but gives full credit to Loveland residents who pay 1 percent or more in income taxes to other cities where they work.

 

Ohio Commission on Local Government Reform and Collaboration

Public Hearing 7/31/09

 

The Commission will hold a meeting and public hearing on Friday, July 31, 2009 beginning at 10:30 am.  The meeting will be held at the Worthington Board of Education Building located at 200 E. Wilson Bridge Road in Worthington, Ohio.

 

The Ohio Commission on Local Government Reform and Collaboration shall develop recommendations on ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of local government operations, to achieve cost savings for taxpayers, and to facilitate economic development in this state.

 

The commission shall issue a report of its findings and recommendations to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Governor not later than July 1, 2010. The commission ceases to exist upon submitting its report.

 

for more information go here.

Facebook Page Vs. Fire Company Closures

Posted by JanePrendergast at 7/29/2009 10:31 AM EDT on Cincinnati.com 

 

Shana Johnson, VP of Cincinnati's firefighters' union, has started a Facebook page for those in opposition to the closing of four fire companies. Closing the companies - which means shutting down four pieces of equipment, not closing any firehouses - is how Chief Robert Wright proposes to come up with the $1.9 million he was assigned by City Manager Milton Dohoney to cut.

 

The closures were announced last week, but have not yet taken effect. Departments have until Thursday to get back to Dohoney on how they want to cut their budgets by their assigned amounts. Dohoney also said he would be open to changes even after that deadline. He needs to get those plans together soon, as he plans to give City Council information on expected layoffs before their meeting next Wednesday.

 

Marc Monahan, union president, said he was pleased that Wright's plan avoided laying any firefighters off, but he doesn't think closing companies is a good idea.

 

The page, with 614 members, says: "With the current budget crisis going on in Cincinnati, one of the solutions to fix the hole in the budget is to close 4 fire companies. This will lead to a reduction in service, and will cause issues with fire fighter safety. We need to stop these company closures! Balancing the budget on the backs of public safety isn't the best way of doing things."

 

Check it out here

 

Yes, check out the firefighters facebook page.

 

You know I think most of us are all for public safety but doesn’t it have to be balanced with the needs and resources of a community.  I think this is where the single minded focus of unions leads to the long term death of a city of company (see Detroit and GM ).  We sooo badly need a vision for this city that can unify all our disparate interests but unfortunately long term planning and economic development staffs are often the first to be eliminated.  Ultimately it is this planning and development that pays for the long term viability of our police and fire departments!

 

It almost seems that the police and fire unions would rather keep their jobs over everything else even if it meant tending a mostly vacant city ala Detroit.

 

You know my bias here – wouldn’t a more productive effort be looking for ways to help market the City’s highly skilled fire department to adjoining jurisdictions (Golf Manor, Elmwood Place, Delhi, etc) who are having their own budget difficulties?  It is my understanding that today the City’s fire department doesn’t even do mutual aid with adjoining jurisdictions.

 

personally, i don't understand the logic of the fire union.  No cuts to staff, no closing of fire houses.  It can't get much better than that.

 

I'd be interested to see how much the public safety services take out of the general fund.

County, Cincinnati mull 911 merger

 

A Cincinnati-Hamilton County committee is re-examining the idea of merging city and county 911 dispatch centers to save money and jobs.  Cincinnati's police and fire departments both currently run their own dispatch centers. Hamilton County operates a regional communication center that, for a fee, dispatches for nearly all of the other county police and fire departments.

 

The idea of Hamilton County absorbing Cincinnati's dispatch centers has been studied before, but "the status quo and politics have always kind of gotten in the way," said Hamilton County Commission President David Pepper, who is on the committee studying the issue.

 

Read full article here:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090731/NEWS0108/908010357/1055/NEWS/County++Cincinnati+mull+911+merger

Merger Of City And County 911 Systems Proposed

 

Jerry Newfarmer, president and chief executive officer of Management Partners, told Hamilton County Commissioners they could save up to $3 million if the city and county consolidated their 911 systems. He reported to the county commission on the Government and Cooperation Efficiency Project. It's an initiative funded by the county, city and city business committee.

 

full article at http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/Merger-Of-City-And-County-911-Systems-Proposed/MG90rtP4906lfzk5ppuudg.cspx

 

That name (Jerry Newfarmer) is a blast from the past. I guess that is answer to what happens to former Cincy City Managers.