Time is ripe to change government

By BRAD WHITEHEAD

If there’s a cause people can get fired up about these days, it’s efficiency. We’re all trying to find ways to make each scarce dollar go further. From the move for online medical records to the repair of our nation’s aging infrastructure to the desire for greater automobile fuel economy, the push for efficiency is on.

Local government, where expenditures represent approximately 10 percent of all regional economic activity, is a particularly ripe area. And in the coming weeks, Northeast Ohioans can put extra muscle behind the efficiency push in a way that will help our whole region.

The appetite for government collaboration and efficiency isn’t new. Experts across the nation have repeatedly shown that fragmented systems of local government reduce a region’s competitiveness. In Northeast Ohio, economists warn that our current system of over 650 different governmental entities across 16 counties is economically unsustainable unless we find better ways to provide government services.

Now, more than ever, our leaders must work together to increase government efficiency and effectiveness. Over the past few years, we at the Fund for Our Economic Future have observed with interest an emerging trickle of stories about public officials proactively pushing collaboration efforts on their own.

It’s time for that trickle to become a raging torrent.

The public is ready for, even demanding, more. We have so much to do to make our region economically competitive that we can not afford a single redundant or inefficient expenditure. The public knows this: in a recent public opinion survey, 82 percent of Northeast Ohio residents favor greater government collaborations.

Monetary incentive

The Fund has heard this public call and we are ready to do our part. Earlier this year we invited government officials to participate in a collaboration and efficiency program, EfficientGovNow. The program will award as much as $300,000 to as many as three projects that accelerate collaboration and efficiency among Northeast Ohio governments.

What followed amazed even us. More than 200 individual governmental entities came together to submit 65 ideas for government collaboration and efficiency in Northeast Ohio. The ideas, which represent almost every county in the region, cover the spectrum from joint economic development districts to water convergence systems. There are projects regarding health care, transportation, technology and more. The ideas represent tangible savings.

Given all that we are hearing these days about what is broken in government, we want to support those that are taking action with the money and visibility to demonstrate better ways of working.

Public will is a key part of driving the change. So we’re putting the power to reward the best of these projects in the hands of Northeast Ohio’s residents. Beginning today and throughout the month of July, you get to vote for the three projects to receive EfficientGovNow funding.

There are three ways to vote: online at www.EfficientGovNow.org; by telephone, toll-free, at 1-877-771-5206, or with a paper ballot located in the EfficientGovNow brochure at libraries throughout the region.

You can review the proposals at EfficientGovNow.org. We invite you to post your comments on the projects. Your suggestions will allow local government officials to strengthen their collaborative work and understand what is important to constituents. Residents can also engage with EfficientGovNow in other ways, such as through its blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Your voice can encourage your favorite government collaboration project to move forward.

The Fund will announce the EfficientGovNow award recipients in early August, but before then, let’s take a moment to celebrate those government officials who are moving past business as usual to make our region competitive. This is a movement where everyone wins. With the officials’ work and your help, our communities will come together to advance Northeast Ohio.

X Whitehead is president of the Fund for Our Economic Future.