Topeka — Kansans like government.
There are nearly 4,000 government units strewn across the state, directing everything from counties, cities, schools, townships, cemeteries and drainage systems.
But amid the current budget crisis, legislators are warming to the idea of consolidation as a way to save some money.
Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, says that you can look from the top of a bank building in downtown Topeka and see an area comprising five school districts. And some of those districts are building new schools while others are closing schools.
“Consolidation is not easy, but I think it has to be considered,” Morris said.
Legislators are peering into a $400 million budget shortfall after state spending has already been cut by nearly $1 billion. They are considering more budget cuts and possibly increasing taxes.
Eliminating layers of government may seem like a natural in the current environment.
A 2003 state audit found that Kansas had more local government units than all but the much more populous states of California, Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania. In 2002, those Kansas local governments levied $2.6 billion in property taxes, the audit said. And auditors have long claimed there are numerous opportunities to merge functions and services across governmental lines to avoid costly duplication.
“We have too many school districts, too many levels of government. The question is whether we have the political will to resolve that,” said House Appropriations Chairman Kevin Yoder, R-Overland Park.
House Speaker Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, said he hears constituents say they want more money for schools and also less administrative overlap. But, he said, when it comes to consolidation, “the devil is in the details.”
The legislators’ comments came last week during a forum before the Kansas Chamber.
Ironically, the man they want to see become the next governor — Republican Sam Brownback — appeared cool to the consolidation idea.
After the legislative forum, Brownback, a U.S. senator, was asked what he thought about consolidation. He replied, “I’m not for forcing it.” But he added that he wasn’t going to second-guess state officials grappling with the current budget crisis. “You have one governor at a time. I’m not it,” he said, adding that legislators have “a difficult task ahead of them.”
Consolidating school districts is a political powderkeg and while some legislators often talk about the need to eliminate some districts, it has been left up to individual districts to take the initiative.
One of those who has proposed shrinking government is state Sen. Chris Steineger, D-Kansas City. He has had bills to reduce the number of counties in Kansas from 105 to 13, and the size of the Legislature from 40 members in the Senate to 30, and from 125 members in the House to 90. Those proposals haven’t gotten any traction, but Steineger said, “At some point, we as a Legislature need to start looking at ideas like this.”
Comments
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Uhlrick_Hetfield_III (anonymous) says…
Steineger was way ahead of the curve on this. If they're going to do this, he should be put in charge of the committee reviewing the changes.
beaujackson (anonymous) says…
Long overdue.
Danimal (anonymous) says…
This would work in some counties, but not others. Some counties are saturated with school districts and local governments. I grew up in a county where there is a little town every three or four miles in pretty much any direction you go and they all have their own districts, etc. I think that those could be easily consolidated. On the other hand, there are a lot of counties in Kansas that are sparsely populated and spread out. There we could look at combining county governments, but would need to take busing into account when dealing with consolidating schools. Road miles can very quickly eat up any savings, not to mention the unfortunate students having to get up at 5AM to catch the bus. Hopefully, our leaders will take this on a case-by-case basis, but this being Kansas I'm certain that they will pick the stupidest course of action possible.
BigDog (anonymous) says…
If Representative Yoder from Overland Park is so high on consolidation ..... why are there 5 city governments in Johnson County ...... has he proposed eliminating the 4 of the 5 mayors back in his district. Why are there 6 school districts in Johnson County
Not opposed to consolidation but find it interesting that a Representative from a high number of government units and school districts would be the guy asking others to consolidate. Where has been his efforts in his home area
kansasexile (anonymous) says…
One consolidation that might work for Kansas is going to a county school district system where there is one district per county like we have here in Nevada. I don't know if you still have townships, but if you do, consolidating those with counties is another idea. The places that are going to be difficult to consolidate are rural counties and school districts as those residents are going to see their survival at stake.
Thinking_Out_Loud (anonymous) says…
I notice the conversation is all about reducing local units of government and funneling the power to the more central state government, rather than the state trimming itself and decentralizing programs to the localities that have a truer understanding of their needs.