Town spirit: Saving on services should be a unifying force
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Lots of ideas are being floated for how to save money by consolidating government services.
A citizens panel that studied the region for 18 months recommended merging the governments of Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh. Gov. Ed Rendell has proposed paring the number of school districts in the state from 500 to 100. Now County Executive Dan Onorato has renewed a promising suggestion to combine municipalities along school district lines.
Mr. Onorato, who mentioned the idea during a speech last week, hasn't devised a formal plan but he floated the idea several years back, too. Now, with most of us more worried than ever about every penny we spend, citizens should look at this as a way to keep their municipal taxes from going up.
It still makes sense to merge the county and city governments, but combining suburbs offers even more potential for significant savings.
Consolidation could cut down on wasteful duplication of services and personnel that is inevitable with having 130 towns in Allegheny County. (Similar situations exist in Pennsylvania's other 66 counties, too.) Thirty of the county's 43 school districts already take in at least two towns, and most include more. Quaker Valley covers 11 towns, and Woodland Hills a dozen.
Avalon and Bellevue make up the Northgate School District and together provide their most expensive public service. Yet the two towns have been unable to reach agreement for a combined police force.
If all these towns can offer educational programs together, why can't they jointly clear the roads, arrange for trash collection and patrol their neighborhoods?
In merger discussions, one concern that typically is raised is that a community's identity will be damaged, but sticking with school district lines should limit that objection. After all, residents of Jefferson, Pleasant Hills and West Elizabeth -- the West Jefferson Hills School District -- fill the Thomas Jefferson High School stadium every season to watch their championship Jaguars. Why couldn't that school spirit spill over to a unified town?
Keeping most school districts intact and merging their feeder towns could be the best solution. Local and state leaders need to take this idea seriously and figure out how to make important, money-saving change possible.
First Published February 12, 2009 12:00 am
