Mergers

Imagine the savings for taxpayers if only one or two agencies patrolled the area. They could do a fine job of enforcing the law at less cost.

Now imagine if all of Wisconsin’s more than 3,100 local units of government did more to share services or merge with neighboring communities.

It wouldn’t fix our economy or solve the $5 billion state budget hole. Consolidation takes time to negotiate and save money.

Yet Wisconsin has been talking about consolidation for years now, with little progress. It’s time for real action in the face of a recession and cash-strapped public service budgets.

A bright spot last week came from two municipal organizations that serve and lobby for cities and villages, including Madison.

The League of Wisconsin Municipalities, representing 188 cities and 390 villages, announced it is consolidating its staff with the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, which comprises 40 of the state’s bigger cities. Alliance spokesman Rich Eggleston said the savings will allow his group to cut dues by 25 percent next year.

“We should have the same amount of bang for fewer bucks,” Eggleston said.

If the umbrella groups for cities and villages can save money by consolidating, that’s a powerful reason for member cities and villages to combine functions, too. Few other states the size of Wisconsin have so many cities, villages, towns and counties as well as school, technical college and special-purpose districts.

Former GOP Gov. Scott McCallum forced more communities to consider mergers and other efficiencies in 2001 by threatening to end the state’s $1 billion revenue sharing program. But McCallum’s laudable effort fell flat after he offended local leaders by calling them “big spenders.”

Since McCallum left office, the number of governmental units in Wisconsin has only increased, according to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance and U.S. Census figures.

Everybody loves the concept of local control. But some of this “control” is an illusion. Locals get almost half their money from the state. So the state already calls a lot of the shots.

Two big stumbling blocks to local government mergers are union contracts and turf battles. But with the economy sinking, local governments owe it to property taxpayers to finally get serious about sharing more services to shave expenses.

Amen.