KCRag Forum

i've always been intrigued by the concept and how a KCMO and jackson county merger could work... anyone else thought about it other than richard tolbert? what would be required at the state level to make it happen? would we be able to pull it off politically or financially?

Merger answers difficult to find

Two centuries after the first of 33 city-county mergers in the United States, researchers still can't answer one key question: Do they work?

That question can't help but bedevil an effort to chart a path for the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

The most recent consolidation, Louisville in 2000, was driven by the loss of one-third of the city's population and the growth of surrounding Jefferson County.

Did the merger help? Not according to Hank Savitch, the Brown and Williamson professor of urban and public affairs at the University of Louisville, who is writing a book on the subject to be called "Transformation Without Change."

His 2004 paper on the merger, and subsequent research, found neither savings nor the economic boon promised by consolidation's business backers in a high-dollar ad blitz. "Really, to be blunt about it, it was a pack of lies," he said.

For a glowing review of consolidation's development benefits, go west. "In Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., it was a very important turning point," said Suzanne M. Leland, a professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and co-author of the coming book "City-County Consolidation: Promises Made, Promises Kept."

Merged in 1997, that city-county saw a big jump in development in its western end, anchored by a speedway that became a major tourist attraction. Total real estate values rose 76 percent in a decade, allowing tax rates to drop 25 percent, according to information provided by Wyandotte County. Permits for new single-family homes are triple what they were before consolidation -- though population declines haven't stopped, and have only slowed slightly.

I think KCMO should instead separate from Jackson, Clay and Cass Counties.

The legislature would have to approve such a consolidation. There was a consolidation bill last year for St. Joe and Buchanan County, but it didn't get too far.

I don't see how it would work logistically when 52% of KCMO's land is outside of Jackson County.  Clay and Platte would never vote to let that land go.  Even less likely is Jackson County voting for a consolidation.  Eastern Jack continues to harbor hopes of splitting of into their own and leaving KCMO behind.

I think KCMax has the most intriguing idea - KCMO leaving all three counties forming its own city-county.  At 300 square miles the city is already the size of a county.  If development was more compact we'd have plenty of room to continue growing well into the future.

It will never happen, but a merger of Jackson, Platte, Cass, and Clay counties and KCMO, that vastly improved delivery of services to the public, would be a juggernaut that would crush Johnson County like a paper cup.   

FangKC wrote: It will never happen, but a merger of Jackson, Platte, Cass, and Clay counties and KCMO, that vastly improved delivery of services to the public, would be a juggernaut that would crush Johnson County like a paper cup.   

it might work if the affected residents were given the opportunity to select new leaders and a streamlined charter for the merged entity. how did that work for UG? i don't think anything will crush johnson county until the schools have improved. we'll always be crippled by that in comparison.

I just like using the words "juggernaut" and "crush" in the same sentence.

How 'bout city-states? I think this is an idea whose time has come. Although it would probably be the death knell of This RAG.

A couple of years ago the city of Topeka and Shawnee County voted to merge the city and county governments. This would have made the whole county of Shawnee the City of Topeka. However wrangling with the 2 governments has virtualy brought the process to a standstill. To make a merger work at a scale that has been talked about in this thread would take cooperation on both sides of the fence so to speek.

bbqboy wrote: How 'bout city-states? I think this is an idea whose time has come. Although it would probably be the death knell of This RAG.

Metropolitan areas are already moving towards becoming de facto city-states, at least from an economic perspective.  I suppose the government structures will eventually catch up.

DaveKCMO wrote: i've always been intrigued by the concept and how a KCMO and jackson county merger could work... anyone else thought about it other than richard tolbert? what would be required at the state level to make it happen? would we be able to pull it off politically or financially?

Merger answers difficult to find

I can see the advantages but unlike Wyandotte County, Jackson County contains some pretty big cities outside of KC like Independence, Blue Springs, Lees Summit, Raytown and Grandview.  Just not sure how that would work with so many other powerful and sizely entities. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_government

Thats the only link I could find on that topic

Not mentioned above, but in Charlotte, NC there are consolidated city and county government functions: the school system is called Charlotte-Mecklenburg; they cover the entire county. But much of the state is that set up that way, however, school system is covered at the county level only.


Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, NC - www.charmeck.org ; Including Charlotte, only 7 municipalities exist in Mecklenburg

There also Nashville-Davidson: www.nashville.gov ; Including Nashville, only 8 municipalites in Davidson County

Indianapolis-Marion: www.indygov.org ; Including Indy, there's only 5 municipalities in the Marion County.

Lexington-Fayette, KY: www.lfucg.com

Louisville-Jefferson, KY: www.louisvilleky.gov ; Interesting case here, there were formally 83 municipalities in Jefferson County, most were not dissolved just taken in under a larger City of Louisville, which acts as the county. They vote for the mayor of Louisville and still have their own local entity. They do have, like Nashville and maybe Indy, a county council that acts in place of a city council. In Nashville, it 35 local and 5 at large, not sure about Louisville.

All these place have consolidation of schools to the county level, as well as police forces, fire rescue, etc. consolidated to the county level.

I'm not sure of the benefits. However, I would imagine lessened overlapping redundancy would be one, centralization, and increase in population of main city.

A negative to some might be an increase in taxes that can result.

The Northland will become its own city before any county merges with kcmo.

Also, anything, and I mean, anything that threatens the MO side suburban school districts will be a disaster.  That's "one" of the main reasons KCMOSD has its hands tied.  They can't deseg with the MO suburbs or the population of JoCo would double overnight.  1980 all over again.

Having said that, Jackson County leaderhip is HORRID.  I would love for KCMO to run all of JaCo.  Clay and Platte would never allow it and honestly, neither would Indep, LS or BS.

I think a lot of these towns that merge don't have quite as much pulling going on.  Independence is the county seat.  It's more historic than KCMO, has a county courthouse etc.  If Indep were just another suburb, it might be possible.

City/County consolidation is a completely separate issue from school district consolidation.  In Missouri, school districts are independent political subdivisions with their own elected boards of directors.  They are not part of city or county government like in some states.

However, the people of the Northland are afraid that NKCSD would merge with KCSD, and the other Jackson County districts would be afraid of the same thing.  Without ironclad assurance that this would not happen, it would be very difficult to get popular support for a merger.

phxcat wrote: However, the people of the Northland are afraid that NKCSD would merge with KCSD, and the other Jackson County districts would be afraid of the same thing.  Without ironclad assurance that this would not happen, it would be very difficult to get popular support for a merger.

This is a red herring.  It is illegal.  You can't get any more ironclad except to say that it would be unconstitutional.

phxcat wrote: However, the people of the Northland are afraid that NKCSD would merge with KCSD, and the other Jackson County districts would be afraid of the same thing.  Without ironclad assurance that this would not happen, it would be very difficult to get popular support for a merger.

I think there are something like 13 different school districts serving the residents of Kansas City, MO right now, including NKCSD.  Why would a city/county merger necessitate that the Kansas City school district absorb any or all of those districts? 

MoMan wrote: I think there are something like 13 different school districts serving the residents of Kansas City, MO right now, including NKCSD.  Why would a city/county merger necessitate that the Kansas City school district absorb any or all of those districts? 

It doesn't, and it would be illegal.

City-county consolidation efforts stagnate

Five years ago, with Wichita City Hall in disarray and high-level vacancies from city manager on down, there was a lot of talk about consolidating city and county government.

Wichita and Sedgwick County officials eventually opted not to pursue a full-government consolidation like Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan.

But they said they would explore the possibilities of "functional consolidation," maintaining separate governments but merging agencies where it could improve efficiency or reduce costs.

Since then, the city and county have agreed to share one fire station and have talked about sharing a couple of others.

That's been about it.

anniewarbucks wrote: A couple of years ago the city of Topeka and Shawnee County voted to merge the city and county governments. This would have made the whole county of Shawnee the City of Topeka. However wrangling with the 2 governments has virtualy brought the process to a standstill. To make a merger work at a scale that has been talked about in this thread would take cooperation on both sides of the fence so to speek.

Annie, I don't think that's completely accurate. The consolidation vote was required to pass in Topeka proper, but also in Shawnee County. Though the measure passed easily in Topeka, Shawnee County voters did not approve the measure, leading some critics to charge that county voters had their votes count more than city voters.

City county merger didn't work here in KCK, not until they make it a true merger. What do I mean?

Well let me be clear. There is a KCK police department, a Bonner Springs police department, an Edwardsville police department, and a Wyandotte County Sheriffs department still to this day. I thought a merger would result in consolidation of redundant services, but instead, it was a merger in name only. The same thing goes for fire services, city government, etc. The cost savings would be huge if we eliminated all of the redundancies. Only one mayor, one city council, one fire department, one police department, one city.