But In Kentucky, "Now's The Time To Consolidate State's Counties".
Now's the time to consolidate state's counties
Now is the perfect time to reduce the number of counties in Kentucky from 120 to 12 or 20 or so. In the business world, this would have been done 20 years ago. There are too many counties serving too few customers. There is duplication in government and school agencies. The services would not be reduced, the county names would be retained, but the most central county within a six- or 10-county area would be hub for these counties.
It is no longer feasible to support people in an area that has no positive outlook for jobs. They live in a beautiful rural area, which many of us would enjoy, too, but it is not realistic to continue to support these people with all of these mini-government centers. It could be that with the elimination of these jobs -- through attrition -- that more money would be available for these people and that there would be more opportunities for employment with increased services.
As it now exists, this system of 120 offices has to be abolished. Jefferson, of course, would be a super-county. Areas in Western and Northern Kentucky would have super-counties. Pike County would probably be a super-county because it has the most population in the area. Because there are several highly populated counties in metro areas, there would be several super-counties next to each other, but the rest of the state should be divided in such a way that the most populous counties would have counties in their hub that would be adjacent to that county so that the citizens would not have too far to travel for occasional services.
Again, the services would not be cut. The schools would still be in their neighborhoods. Libraries would remain. Hospitals and police and fire districts would remain in the current county -- which would retain its historical county name. But there would now be only 12 or 20 school superintendents and county judge-executives, not 120 with their numerous assistants and associates. And, of course, anyone within these super-counties would be eligible for these positions no matter which county within the super-county they reside.
Has the University of Louisville or anyone else done a study to estimate the savings and efficiencies of such plans?
ELLEN POTTER
Louisville 40241
Editor's comment: How about it, folks?
Now is the perfect time to reduce the number of counties in Kentucky from 120 to 12 or 20 or so. In the business world, this would have been done 20 years ago. There are too many counties serving too few customers. There is duplication in government and school agencies. The services would not be reduced, the county names would be retained, but the most central county within a six- or 10-county area would be hub for these counties.
It is no longer feasible to support people in an area that has no positive outlook for jobs. They live in a beautiful rural area, which many of us would enjoy, too, but it is not realistic to continue to support these people with all of these mini-government centers. It could be that with the elimination of these jobs -- through attrition -- that more money would be available for these people and that there would be more opportunities for employment with increased services.
As it now exists, this system of 120 offices has to be abolished. Jefferson, of course, would be a super-county. Areas in Western and Northern Kentucky would have super-counties. Pike County would probably be a super-county because it has the most population in the area. Because there are several highly populated counties in metro areas, there would be several super-counties next to each other, but the rest of the state should be divided in such a way that the most populous counties would have counties in their hub that would be adjacent to that county so that the citizens would not have too far to travel for occasional services.
Again, the services would not be cut. The schools would still be in their neighborhoods. Libraries would remain. Hospitals and police and fire districts would remain in the current county -- which would retain its historical county name. But there would now be only 12 or 20 school superintendents and county judge-executives, not 120 with their numerous assistants and associates. And, of course, anyone within these super-counties would be eligible for these positions no matter which county within the super-county they reside.
Has the University of Louisville or anyone else done a study to estimate the savings and efficiencies of such plans?
ELLEN POTTER
Louisville 40241
Editor's comment: How about it, folks?
Labels: Kentucky politics
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 9:28 AM
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