Staff report
GLASGOW — As members of the General Assembly hash through ideas about how to cut costs in state government — and then by extension pass those cuts down to local governments to absorb — there are at least a couple of items that could be addressed if legislators had the political will power to do so.
One item is working its way through the House in the form of a bill that would allow voters to petition for county consolidation, or for a fiscal court passing an ordinance to signal its intent to consolidate with a neighboring county.
On the face, this looks like good legislation, and it may be if it passes, but it does not go far enough. The legislation that should be presented and passed should be mandatory consolidation of counties that do not have the tax base to fund a county government system.
There are several good reasons for Kentucky to cut its number of counties down, but most notably it would be the cost savings for the taxpayers of small population counties with typically small tax bases.
There are 120 counties in the state, with 120 judge-executives, 120 sheriffs, 120 jailers, and countless other duplicated offices paid for by taxpayers. The wage for those elected positions is typically significantly higher than the median income of the county residents.
Take for instance Metcalfe County, where the population is appropriately 10,000 and the median household income is less that $24,000, the lowest pay grade of judge-executive and sheriff are each set at more than $64,000 annually, according to the 2006 salary schedule published in the Duties of Elected Officials manual.
Neighboring Cumberland County paints a similar picture. The county population is less than 7,500 and the median household income is less than $22,000. The lowest pay grade for sheriff and judge-executive for a county with that population is more than $54,000.
The paid grade for jailers is the same as the aforementioned offices, if the county has a jail facility. Neither Cumberland nor Metcalfe have jails, so the jailers pay scale is lower in those counties. That brings about another change that could be made to reduce costs in counties without jail facilities. The post itself should be eliminated and those duties rolled over to the sheriff’s office.
If legislators truly want to make way for real and permanent change to Kentucky’s economic future, they will make the politically tough decisions, starting with the consolidation of counties and elimination of superfluous political offices.
