Reader react to: Show guts in government

March 19, 2017 at 12:36p.m.

Read your column this morning, some observations...

We lived in Virginia for five years. In Virginia school districts were administered by either county or large city. There were of course multiple school but only one central administration. Applied to Ohio this would be that there would be fewer than 100 school districts instead of the over 400 that we have now. Mahoning County would have a school district for this city and one for the county, just two. Lots of administrative overhead could be saved.
A few years ago, there was a study of the feasibility of combining Hubbard City, Brookfield Township and Hubbard Township Police Departments. Study was done, efficiencies were identified, but nothing was done. No will.

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Todd, fantastic editorial article in The Vindicator this morning. You are right on the money that it does take guts to create more out of less. But it also takes leadership and higher taxpayer expectations, and I fear that's what we lack the most. If there was a politician that would lay out a true vision and get others to follow, then more could be created out of less instead of waiting until the whole thing crumbles and all are forced to vote so politicians do it the right way.

Combined and shared services are nothing new to either the public or private sector. I work for a public Fortune 600 company based in Pittsburgh that its shareholders expect decisions to be made to create more with less and create synergies by making 1+1=3 every day. There are municipalities all around us in Cleveland in the Pittsburgh to draw positive examples to create the value story here.

So why is it so hard for us here in the Mahoning Valley?

I point to weak leadership and the fact that shareholders (taxpayers) do not demand better. It takes guts to be a leader and put the value story together like we do in the private sector where it benefits shareholders. It will take that same level of business thinking leadership to do the same in a public sector setting so it benefits taxpayers.

But it also takes the guts of taxpayers that are fat and happy to stand up for themselves and expect better when the future is not as rosy due to a declining tax base. We need to elect those type of fiscal hawk yet visionary synergistic type of leaders and then stand behind them in office when they try to do the right thing.

Thats my 2 cents... you pulled that Irish temper out of me with that article.

“The [state] Legislature has to get some guts, and they have to increase the gasoline tax to distribute back to the county engineers. They have to do something proactively to assist with our crumbling infrastructure.”

If Ditzler believes an increase in gasoline sales tax will mean more money passing through Columbus' greedy hands and back into the county coffers, he's even dumber than I thought he was. That state Rainy-Day Fund will reach the billion-dollar mark that much quicker - that's all that would happen.

"They all say there is a government revenue and spending problem. They all say government can get smaller. But ironically, they say it’s the “other governments” that can – not theirs."

The money needs to be in the hands of the local governments, because that's where the work is done. The "government" that needs to be made smaller is the one that's hoarding our tax money, and passing it out like candy to friends. We need less overpaid bureaucrats in Columbus, not less local cops, firemen, and road workers.

"Are they spending less? You sure? I’ve not heard of any places here where, my goodness, we couldn’t put a fire out."

All fires eventually go out. Have lives been lost because firemen couldn't rescue fire victims in time? There are no cold, hard facts either way, but it stands to reason that a larger crew gets more done, more quickly, than a smaller crew.

And every new tax every local government has asked the public for since Kasich screwed this state over is proof that the local governments have had to make do with less.

Look, local government services are pretty well pared to the bone. Combining services would save a relatively few bucks because only one department head would be needed, and one set of upper echelon officials. But removing any of the rank and file, as the pro-merger types seem to want, would only result in less services, provided in a less timely manner. School systems face huge transportation costs when they merge. Do you really want a 5-year-old to have to get up at 5 am and be on the school bus by 6 am, in order to be in school at the start of the school day? Out in the rural areas, where the small school districts are found, that would be the case.

"In 2012, voters of East Syracuse, N.Y. (3,000 people), rejected a proposal to dissolve their police department and merge it with neighboring DeWitt (25,000 citizens). In 2013, property taxes rose 22 percent, prompting another vote. In 2014, the merger was approved by a margin of 333 to 199."

And did their property taxes go back down by that same amount? Do tell us!! Jacking up those rates was a temper tantrum on the part of the elected officials who wanted their way. Each and every one of those who voted for that 22% raise in property tax rates should have been voted out of office.

In Mahoning County, the suburbs surrounding Youngstown see the city as nothing but a money pit. They believe any governmental merger would drain the suburbs of money and resources, with no benefit. And then you have the western half of the county, which is so rural and spread out that a merger would make little sense, simply because of the distances involved.

There are many tiny school systems around here that would benefit from a merger as well like McDonald and Mineral Ridge but they'll never do it...

Regarding the epic sidewalk construction....all that fuss yet the two entities could care less about the condition of the sidewalks poured decades ago. Regarding the merger concept - time to combine the Vindicator with the Warren Trib, Daily Legal News, Boardman News, Town Crier, Business Journal, and all the area high school newspapers and Sunday church bulletins. Show the government some real guts.