Chamber's chief proposes a push for consolidation

Tom Humphries could not have chosen a better time to talk about consolidation of school districts and governments in the Mahoning Valley. On Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau released updated population data that showed losses in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
A decline in population means a decline in tax revenue, which also means less money for the public sector. Thus the challenge: To provide the services the public expects without increasing taxes.
Consolidation is a proven solution.
As Humphries, president of the Regional Chamber, told the organization's annual meeting Wednesday, there are savings to be realized with bold initiatives and creative thinking.
For instance, the 45 school districts in the three counties spend 90 million a year on administration, according to Humphries.
"What if we cut the number [of districts] to three and moved 70 million or 50 million to the classroom?" the chamber president wondered.
As for local governments, regionalization would result in huge savings because there could be one accounting or human resource department for each county, Humphries said.
But requiring the public sector to do more with less is easier said than done. We have long advocated eliminating the many layers of government in the region and have suggested a streamlining of the public schools system. However, special interests, led by the public employee unions, have proven to be strong in fighting systemic changes.
In addition to which, elected officials aren't willing to risk the wrath of individuals on the public payrolls, or elimination of their own positions, which is why there has been no rush to change.
Taxpayers first
If Humphries is to succeed in his endeavor, he must first sell the idea of consolidation to the people who matter the most, the taxpayers. Then, he must find allies in the school districts and governments, and finally he must get the business community, grassroots organizations, political parties and the press to sign on.
It's a huge undertaking, but one that must be pursued.
For more than 10 years, we have advocated the creation of a metropolitan court system in Mahoning County that would eliminate all the courts below the Common Pleas level and replace them with one court served by several judges.
Unfortunately, there has been no commitment on the part of individuals in positions to do something to adopt the plan and make it a reality. Instead, officials have been content to nibble.
In 1997, an effort was made to introduce a charter form of government in Mahoning County. It would have replaced the current makeup of commissioners and other administrative offices. But advocates abandoned the plan after failing to get the level of support necessary to move the reorganization plan forward.
To illustrate just how detached from reality the public sector has become, the chamber president cited a study by WYTV-Channel 33 showing that while the population of Mahoning and Trumbull counties fell 7 percent from 1984 to 2004, the number of government jobs increased 17 percent.
In addition, while private sector pay increased 59 percent during that period, pay in local governments increased 124 percent.
For the past 18 months, groups of business leaders formed by the chamber have been examining ways to make schools and governments more efficient. Their findings will be important in launching the campaign for consolidation and regionalization that Humphries is advocating.