Consolidation of Government: The Problems

When I posted on the proposal from Representative Sheldon Wasserman, (D-Milwaukee) and Frank Lasee (R-Green Bay) to examine merging Wisconsin government, Consolidate Counties? Soglin Agrees With Lasee? , I did not do justice to some of the underlying issues.

For example, RAG, who is not pleased with my I-35W Bridge Opinions, commented:

Having spent more than three decades in government, I can tell you one of the greatest fallacies is the "consolidation is cheaper" mindset...

...But there is value in local accountability in government where office holders become accessible and accountable.

Absolutely correct. The presumption that consolidation automatically saves money, usually premised on a mistaken belief that fewer top administrators are needed, is a fallacy. Often the savings from the elimination of one position is easily devoured by problems of span of control, and lack of responsiveness.

The value of local accountability is not to be underestimated. When organizations are flat and the staff has a direct connection to the people served, there is more, not less innovation, as the people who deliver the services are more creative and understanding of their jobs.

Bob Keith,Cool Dadio Media wryly noted:

thought somewhere, but now lost in my dusty Political Science 101 book was the notion that inefficient government was actually a last protection for "the people."

He may be correct, but I hope that we do not rationalize and justify lousy government on the basis that "if it doesn't work, we are all safer." There should be a better and more logical safeguard for the people than making government inefficient.

Finally, not on this site, but elsewhere, one commentator noted that maybe the place to start consolidation was town governments, not counties. No disagreement here.

I still return to intergovernmental compacts and contracting for services between units of government to see how they get along as the way to encourage mergers and consolidation.

Comments

[Consolidation on Vision]

An issue missed in this discussion is mindset. I worked at the Wisconsin Department of Administration as a temporary worker in the Division of Technology Management.

I observed greed and entitlement on the smallest issue of Management thinking they needed an eight dollar pen.

When we bring back a sense of service to the taxpayers we can change anything

Madision misses you as mayor because you had the ability to inspire a sense of service and people reportedly believed they were making a difference.

A life with no sense of purpose causes greed and entitlement that leaves people insatiable.

So if you leave a sense of service out of your theory it is doomed from the beginning.td

[John H.]

How can you seriously argue that local officials are more accountable that say state or federal officials? When the turnout for a presidential election is nearly 70% in our state, and the turnout for local elections hovers around 15%, how can you seriously argue that local officials are more accountable? Accountable how? I know county board members in rural counties that routinely get elected with 37 votes. In some smaller cities, alderman get elected with 80 votes. If you polled voters in this state, do you seriously think more people know who their county board supervisor is than who the governor is? That more people know who their alderman is than who their mayor is? I seriously doubt it.

The reasons for this lack of accountability are many - and are mostly the fault of apathetic voters, not office holders - but the reasons are really irrelevant to this argument. The fact is that the lower profile the office, the less accountable office holders are.

[C]

I to work at the Wisconsin Department of Administration in the Division of Technology Management. Most of the problems we face are because of the layers and layers of management above us. What a fiasco it has been.