Consolidation pros and cons

“Consolidation” in Saline County and Salina has received much news attention recently. That is as it should be. All of us should be interested in improving our lives and the government which impacts us significantly.

It is of supreme importance, however, that we not operate out of a single-mindedness that shuts out debate, whether favoring or opposing consolidation efforts.

The League study’s keenest insight came from Randall Allen, Director of the Kansas Association of Counties. Other contributions were important, but Randall’s message was one we can ill afford to ignore. As he said, the worst structure or plan, when involving good, well-informed and well-motivated people, will succeed. On the other hand, the very best structure or plan implemented by ill-informed and ill-motivated people will certainly fail. In short, people are the key to success or failure.

For better or worse, we must rely on government to take care of things we cannot do on our own. In this system, our representatives can seek out the best for us, collectively and individually, with our support. In some grant-seeking areas (housing, public transportation, and the like), a larger city/county entity can have more clout. And the public good is far better served, especially in land and environmental use, when not held hostage by competing interests and entities.

No matter what the governing body, we all hear “efficiency” touted as a noble goal, and it is. Everyone serves their own best interests in seeking how to best use time and resources, whether in a household, a school, a business, or a government.

However, cutting costs is not automatically more efficient. We must ask what service is received for that dollar. It is far too easy to stereotype public servants as inefficient or lazy. Sometimes, cutting such costs cuts your own throat.

If your neighbor loses his/her job, and that job provides you with an ambulance for your heart attack, an education for your kids (or yourself), a smooth street to get to work, or police protection when your house is broken into or worse, you’re going to miss both your neighbor and the service. And what will your neighbor do? Will you be next?

Beyond those basics, we often ignore the obvious, that public life is enriched by “amenities” which make life more than a trip from slaving to slumber with time out for supper. Among soul-enriching Salina public services, two fine examples are the public library and public art.

Such services should be our birthright. And they must be paid for, to use that ugly 5-letter word, in taxes. Sometimes the answer is not cutting services, but raising taxes. The question is who will pay them.

Our Congress insists on providing constant bad examples of cutting taxing for those who can most afford to pay, and reducing and cutting services for those who can least afford to lose them. We need to change that Congress, but until then, on the local level, we must not make the same mistakes.

The city and county, to their great credit, have already begun to work together. These entities may formally “consolidate” or just cooperate. Whatever their course, they need your dialogue and involvement. Don’t pass up the chance.