do you feel the consolidation of county/municipal services would save taxpayers money?
police and fire departments are obvious choices but what other services would you like to see combined?
water departments?
solid waste disposal?
planning and zoning?
discuss.
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22 comments:
depends, what if you are on a well? Why would I want to pay for county water when I don't have too!
Now if we could pick and choose the ones we want to combine I wouldn't see a problem with that, but that will only happen in a perfect world!
Not only should we have city/county consolidation, we should have county/county consolidation. Georgia has way too many counties which results in needless duplication of services at the cost of millions of wasted taxpayer dollars.
There are excellent opportunities for consolidation of duplicative services between the City of Barnesville and County of Lamar.
Unfortunately, without visionary leaders—within both political entities—and a citizenry that demands efficiencies of operations and fiscal responsibility any consolidation will not happen, at least in the near term.
In my opinion a county with approximately 16K citizens does not need two police or fire departments. This becomes more apparent when one realizes that much of the fire protection is a volunteer force. Property owners will not realize insurance reductions until the water system is fully implemented and fire stations are manned around the clock. Consolidation for the fire departments should be part of this long term planning.
The police departments become a bit more contentious because the Sheriffs position is a constitutionally elected position. In the larger counties---Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Dekalb, etc. ---the Sheriff is primarily the jail keeper. In less populated counties the Sheriff performs multiple tasks; therefore, consolidation can be attractive.
Consolidation obstacles abound, namely protection of political turfs, inherent resistance to change and cynicism of government are among the most prevalent.
Will any consolidation occur? Probably not presently; however, if the citizens of Barnesville and Lamar County will---over the next couple election cycles---elect individuals who are visionary and who are willing to take the “political heat”, some consolidation could happen. Otherwise, we will have missed a great opportunity to enhance our governmental services.
For those who feel consolidation has merit, remember elections count. If we continue to elect myopic thinkers, we get non-visionary government; if we continue to elect “good ole boys”, we will get “good ole boy” government; if we continue to elect candidate’s who abilities are limited to emotional outbursts, intractable attitudes and void of intellectual discourse, nothing will change.
I believe some consolidation has an upside; however, with the present County Commission and the present City Council in Barnesville I think chances of any consolidation are diminished.
If the county is so "Hell Bent for Leather" to consolidate services and hire a county manager. It is my hope the county dont hire one who buys hamburgers for his buddies that are in jail.
You must have a short memory. This same group of leaders you defile today landed the biggest economic development project in the southeast US less than 2 months ago. Or have you forgotten already?
Let's de-consolidate the county and give the northeast section to Butts County. The southeast section to Monroe County. The western section to Pike County and let Milner and Barnesville consolidate to form a new county of Milner & Barnesville could be the county seat.
Brad White will be the Sheriff of Milner County.
you have my vote!
That would be a fun land swap to watch!
Hey new sheriff sounds good to me GO BRAD!
CONSOLIDATION OF FIRE DEPT. AND LAW ENFORCEMENT IS EASY.
THE SHERIFF WOULD RUN THE JAIL AND SECURE THE COURTS.
WE COULD HAVE A LAMAR COUNTY POLICE FORCE TO PATROL ENTIRE COUNTY & PROVIDE ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS. THE FIRE & POLICE FORCE WOULD COME UNDER A PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION ALONG WITH AMBULANCE SERVICES AND EMA.
THE COMMISSION WOULD BE MADE UP OF THE CHAIRMAN, MAYOR OF B'VILLE & MILNER.
AN ELECTIONS BOARD WAS DONE PRETTY QUICK & EASY WITH EACH GOVERNMENT ENTITY CONTRIBUTING ON A PRORATA BASIS. WHY CAN'T IT BE DONE ON A MUCH LARGER SCALE WITH THIS?
Let the county commissioners give the whole county away like they did the money and property of the ag aut. The city could't do one damn thing about it. I suggest Spalding because Pike has more problems than we do and Upson/Monroe is in the wrong direction.
I vote "GIVE IT ALL AWAY"
To Lamar County:
From: Butts County:
We do not want your North East section of Lamar. Nice try but we got our fair share of nuts already.
To Butts County
Well said
Take heed. The good old boys are up to something. 10 will get you 100 that somebody has been talking behind somebodys back. Grab the KY
Absolutly consolidate the Fire and Law Enforcement.
I understand the GA Constituion requires that each county have a Sheriff to run the jail, secure the court and serve papers. But the law enforcement is seperate from those powers under a whole seperate budget. Lets consolidate the law enforcement of Barnesville, Milner and the County.
I would like for our elected leaders to have some real discussions about this and tell us why it would or would not work.
ANON 11:20PM: I hear ya. lets look at it and see if it would be a cost savings to us taxpayers.
If anyone in the fire department or law enforcement community would comment and give us thier perspective of ANON 11:20PM thoughts it would be appreciated.
Remain anonymous because this is a touchy subject with the powers that be.
Consolidate Fire and Law Enforcement now or lets go to special tax districts. Tired of paying double.
If it means getting rid of my Commissioner then I am for it.
This can only be answered by looking at the budget cost of each department under consideration for consolidation.
IE: Cost of County Fire Dept. and City Fire Dept. as seperate units and combined units.
Can we cut cost by being more efficient and utilizing equipment and personnel better as one unit instead of two? Must maintain the service and protection and not jepordize that just to cut cost.
Now the big one:
Lamar County Police Force
Things that make you go ummm?
Even if cost could be cut in half, does anyone think politics would trump cost savings?
Until that question is answered, no need to waste time seeing if the taxpayers would benefit from a consolidated Police Force.
Sheriff runs the jail, secures the courts and serves papers.
Lamar County Police Force provides law enforcement and patrol.
I have a ten foot pole if anyone wants to touch it!
CARY WILSON FOR SHERIFF LOL
sure wish we had a blog site back in Cary's wild ass days!
those would have been some good stories
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