Thomas Suddes: Ohio has too many school districts, government entities

Should firefighters get their jobs back?
11/6/09
Ohio voters said they want safe, affordable food
11/6/09
Let’s not coddle our kids so much
11/6/09
Are construction crews blameless for interstate accidents?
11/6/09
Wright brothers’ story still inspires
11/6/09
> More opinion headlines

Updated 6:11 PM Friday, May 8, 2009

Six months early, here’s an Ohio taxpayer’s letter-in-reverse to Santa — things Ohio doesn’t need, and should change:

• Ohio doesn’t need 614 school districts. Each county should be one district. To block nutty ideas from teacher-training colleges, schools inside a countywide district could be grouped, with each group of schools answering to an unpaid parent-taxpayer curriculum council.

• Ohio also doesn’t need its 700 “special district” governments, such as port authorities and fire, park, etc., districts. All that brush just hides which typically unelected folks caused which mess.

• Ohio doesn’t need horse-and-buggy counties and should require (not just allow) each county’s voters to simplify its government. Cuyahoga County is the poster child, but 87 others are antiques, too.

It’s ridiculous to elect coroners and engineers and sheriffs. Each county should elect a legislative body by districts (whether legislators are called “commissioner” or “councilor” or “exalted floorwalker of the first chop”); elect one countywide executive; and elect a prosecuting attorney. That’s it.

• Ohio doesn’t need front license plates. In border counties, every third car seems to lack a front plate. A two-plate law just gives police a legal excuse (until someone gets state legislators to pass a “primary enforcement” seat-belt law) to hassle drivers who look young, black or Hispanic.

• Ohio needs one statewide health care plan for all 740,000 public employees — from the governor to courthouse janitors. Unions wouldn’t like it, nor would insurance “consultants,” nor would hundreds of local-government baronies. But the more public employees enrolled in one plan, the more leverage Ohio taxpayers would have with health insurers.

• Painful though it is to suggest, Ohio may need to repeal its estate tax or allow repeal county by county to keep wealthy Ohioans and their charitable donations from moving to Florida.

Sure, the rich will still see themselves as “victims” — and the GOP will always be there to play Dr. Phil. (As Corey Robin wrote in the Nation last year, “Making privilege palatable to the democratic masses is a permanent project for conservatives.”) But repeal would send a message.

Estate-tax repeal sounds better on the radio than at village council: Eighty percent of the tax goes to the city, village or township where an Ohioan lived. In 2007, the tax sluiced $9.05 million to Oakwood; $1.91 million to Beachwood; and $3.9 million to Upper Arlington. Still, philanthropy by rich Ohioans persuaded to stay in Ohio backstops many Ohio institutions financially.

• Ohio should offer voters this trade-off: If they’ll repeal term-limits, Ohio will cut its 99-member House to 66. The drop in hot air alone would save big money on Statehouse air-conditioning.

• No offense to the incumbent, Greater Cleveland’s Lee I. Fisher, but Ohio needs to abolish the lieutenant governorship. Voters took the Senate presidency away from lieutenant governors in the 1970s — their one original duty. Yes, governors since then have given Fisher and other LGs Cabinet jobs. (Fisher was development director before he officially became a U.S. Senate candidate.)

But Ted Strickland could have made Fisher development director whether Fisher was LG or not; same goes for Bob Taft, who made his LG, Akron’s Maureen O’Connor, Ohio’s public safety director.

A net of seven states gets along fine without a lieutenant governorship. That’s “net,” because New Jersey, which hasn’t had an LG, decided to elect one this year.

Question: Should Ohio want to keep doing what New Jersey wants to start doing? Case closed.

Thomas Suddes is an adjunct assistant professor at Ohio University. Send e-mail to tsuddes@gmail.com.

Share this article

ADD COMMENT

Comments feed

Actually,maybe Ohio doesn't need 88 counties anymore either! Designed in horse and buggy days to get farmers to the court house and home by supper no matter where they lived, something like 20 counties would probably serve Ohio residents very well. Of course that would cause the unemployment rate to rise as all those sheriffs, recorders, or whatever, are laid off. But think of the money that would be saved. Why you might even be able to fix a road or a bridge or two with the savings! MH

Mike Hanback
11:08 AM, 5/18/2009

REPORT ABUSE

We welcome your comments. Please remember this is a public forum and behave appropriately. Your comments must conform to our visitor's agreement.