County commissioners cool to call to study government consolidation
By DAVID CLOUSTON
Salina Journal
Saline County commissioners Monday rejected a call for county money or county staff time to help fund a study about potential benefits from consolidating city and county government.
But after discussing the topic for more than an hour in a study session with Salina city commissioners, there was a consensus that the two sides could gain from re-examining the areas where their departments now cooperate.
"The thing that was most surprising to me was how good a discussion we had. We didn't get exactly what was asked for, but we did get some good discussion, which was worth almost as much," said Ann Zimmerman, president of the Salina League of Women Voters.
League members had hoped to convince leaders on both governing bodies to commission a task force to look into consolidation. The League studied the issue for about two years, starting in 2005.
But league members finally concluded they didn't have the resources to fully answer the questions about how the county and city would be affected by any move toward consolidated government.
"It became clear to us that our little committee was too small to do this," Zimmerman said after the meeting. The committee numbered about seven members at its peak in 2006. "In addition, we weren't getting any buy-in from the county, which made us suspect to everyone on the county staff, and rural residents."
Consolidated, sort of
County Commission Chairman Randy Duncan, who ran for the commission originally on an anti-consolidation platform, said there was already a "quasi-consolidated" local government.
"We have city and county commissioners sitting on the joint building authority, running this building," he said of the City-County Building, 300 W. Ash. "We have the joint Salina-Saline County Health Department. We have the shared jail. Those are several examples, plus the 40-plus interlocal agreements we have (already).
"It's been my position to continue doing as we have done over the years, with Saline County and Salina, and work through cooperation and interlocal agreements," Duncan said. "I'm not convinced there would be a huge savings through consolidation ... plus, I don't think there's a great sentiment from the public out there saying 'please consolidate.' "
The city's budget for 2010 approved in August totals $69.48 million, up just shy of $58,000 from this year's budget. The county's budget for 2010 totals $31,260,707.
County Commissioner Jerry Fowler said he wasn't taking anything away from what the League members had attempted to do, but due to the intricacy of both government bodies, without having background and experience, it's hard to discern where jobs in the county and city may duplicate.
Where are the benefits?
Duncan questioned county staff taking time away from their daily duties to devote to a study when it isn't clear that the outcome would produce any benefits.
That prompted a reply from city Commissioner Aaron Peck.
"I expect sometimes initiative to be taken without necessarily a call being made," he said. "I expect the leaders to sometimes have to lead and say, 'This is an area we're going to look at. We don't know what the outcome is going to be.' "
Representatives of both bodies agreed to hold a meeting together in the future where they examine summaries of the interlocal cooperative operating agreements they now have.
n Reporter David Clouston can be reached at 822-1403 or by e-mail at dclouston@salina.com.
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