Failure to merge United Ways a blow to consolidation efforts

It has long been suggested that the public sector could learn a thing or two from the private sector when it comes to operating efficiently and tearing down barriers to cutting costs. Governments at all levels have been criticized for refusing to face fiscal realities by eliminating duplication and consolidating services.

But it now turns out that provincial attitudes can still to be found in the private sector. Case in point: The collapse of the merger talks between the United Way of Youngstown and Mahoning County and the United Way of Trumbull County.

Although the boards of trustees of both entities had voted in favor of creating a single organization, the financial contributors of the Trumbull County United Way said no in a vote July 26. That decision came three weeks after the trustees approved the merger.

What happened?

John Taylor, an insurance agent from Warren and a board member who opposed the merger, questioned the wisdom of doing away with the two United Ways.

Taylor said in a letter that a single entity is not the “best or most appropriate means of dealing with human needs or the needs of our local neighborhoods.”

Fifty-one contributors obviously agreed with that assessment, while 35 voted with the trustees for merger. Because the bylaws of the Trumbull County United Way required a donor vote to dissolve the local organization, the idea for creating one organization to serve both counties is now dead.

But the ramifications of this failure go way beyond United Way. When individuals from the private sector reject a merger proposal that makes sense financially, decision-makers in the public sector certainly will ignore any pressure to adopt practices to give taxpayers the biggest bang for their dollars.

As Bill Padisak, president of the Mahoning/Trumbull AFL-CIO Council and 2012 chairman of the United Way of Youngstown and Mahoning Valley, said after the defeat of the merger proposal, “I think the Trumbull donor vote was the same old thing. People have a negative feeling about mergers in our Valley. Regionalism is a dirty word here.”

Job protection

Regionalism is a particularly dirty word in the public sector where job protection is the priority and turf wars are a reality.

It doesn’t matter how much money local governments have lost because of a reduction in state funding or taxpayers refusing to approve new taxes or renew existing ones, the status quo still holds sway.

The Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber has been leading the charge in trying to keep consolidation of government services and even regional government on the front burner.

But, opposition to any change in the status quo remains strong.

Now, with individuals from the private sector rejecting the merger of the United Ways of Mahoning and Trumbull counties, elected officials and others in government will be able to use that vote as an excuse for their inaction.