Appointed about six months ago, and with still six months of work to do, prior to its report being released in April 2008, the Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness made some noise last week touting some possible examples of consolidation. Two were here in Cayuga County - one dealing with fire departments in northern Cayuga County and the other multiple sewer and water authorities.
While these are great examples, they are no more than that. The commission, headed up by former New York State Lieutenant Gov. and Congressman Stanley Lundine, who was in Auburn two weeks ago, hopes to unveil a whole host of recommendations on April 15, 2008.
They hope to be able to give concrete ideas to consolidate some 4,200 local government entities. These can range from cities, towns and villages, to fire, library and special districts. One of the reasons that New York has one of the highest combined tax rates in the nation is because it has a plethora of government entities from Long Island to Plattsburgh to Niagara Falls and everywhere between.
While everyone agrees there is “too much government” it will take more than a laundry list of suggestions from a panel appointed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer to cut the cost and size of government. It is going to take more than “common sense says” or “we oughta's” to reduce entities and create taxpayer savings while going for efficiency through economies of scale.
If anything, it is going to take cold hard cash from Albany. While Spitzer and proponents of the commission's work say that there will need to be “incentives” for communities to move toward consolidation #- token “incentives” will not be enough.
That four letter word, turf, will rear its head often here. There will be those who like the power they have #- whether it is being in the leadership of a volunteer fire company, the head of a library board or a village trustee. They are not just going to give up there positions and power in the name of good government #- in fact they will likely, cash aid or not, be the ones who will come up with the greatest number of reason not to consolidate their entities.
If consolidation is to work, it will have to come from a public, which sees both cash savings and incentives from Albany to make it so. As a result, the time is now for Spitzer and members of the Legislature to start planning for their inclusion in the budget that commences 15 days before this report is due to “incentivise” change #- otherwise this will just be another report, like many before it, that sits on a shelf, praised for its thoughtfulness, but without action.
Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com
They hope to be able to give concrete ideas to consolidate some 4,200 local government entities. These can range from cities, towns and villages, to fire, library and special districts. One of the reasons that New York has one of the highest combined tax rates in the nation is because it has a plethora of government entities from Long Island to Plattsburgh to Niagara Falls and everywhere between.
While everyone agrees there is “too much government” it will take more than a laundry list of suggestions from a panel appointed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer to cut the cost and size of government. It is going to take more than “common sense says” or “we oughta's” to reduce entities and create taxpayer savings while going for efficiency through economies of scale.
If anything, it is going to take cold hard cash from Albany. While Spitzer and proponents of the commission's work say that there will need to be “incentives” for communities to move toward consolidation #- token “incentives” will not be enough.
That four letter word, turf, will rear its head often here. There will be those who like the power they have #- whether it is being in the leadership of a volunteer fire company, the head of a library board or a village trustee. They are not just going to give up there positions and power in the name of good government #- in fact they will likely, cash aid or not, be the ones who will come up with the greatest number of reason not to consolidate their entities.
If consolidation is to work, it will have to come from a public, which sees both cash savings and incentives from Albany to make it so. As a result, the time is now for Spitzer and members of the Legislature to start planning for their inclusion in the budget that commences 15 days before this report is due to “incentivise” change #- otherwise this will just be another report, like many before it, that sits on a shelf, praised for its thoughtfulness, but without action.
Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com
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jlmorgansr wrote on Sep 29, 2007 11:37 AM: