CARLTON FLETCHER: The time is right for consolidation … but don’t hold your breath

“The laws of karma say you’re gonna reap just what you sow.”

— Joe South

If the recent ugly fight between the Albany City and Dougherty County commissions over local-option sales tax revenue proved nothing else, it showed that the time has come for consolidation of the city and county governments.

The community wasted a whole lot of time and money years ago studying and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of combining the two governments, and a committee of some of the area’s brightest and most successful individuals came to the conclusion that consolidation would benefit the community.

But when it came time to vote, commission members like Tommie Postell, Jack Stone and John Hayes rejected the progressive concept for varying reasons, and the two governments have moved clunkily forward in the years since.

The detractors tried to finesse their way around reasons for voting down the measure, but conversations with them after city and county votes offered insight into reasoning that has kept consolidation — and progress — from becoming reality.

No. 1 among the reasons had to do with Albany Utilities, then called the Water, Gas & Light Commission. That entity was — and remains — a cash cow for the city, and Albany commissioners who voted against consolidation said they were not satisfied with the committee’s plans for usage of WG&L funds, which amounted to tens of millions of dollars each year.

(Interesting note about WG&L: City Attorney Nathan Davis noted that when the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) informed WG&L officials that money sent to that entity as a hedge against deregulation (which for Albany was in excess of $100 million) would be returned over the course of several years because feared deregulation never materialized, officials at WG&L at first did not inform city officials, intending to keep the funding solely for utility authority use. Eventually, when news emerged, an equitable split was negotiated. That split became moot when the city later took control of the Utilities Authority.)

The second reason opponents gave for voting against consolidation was, essentially, a fear of the unknown. The city and county governments had been functioning independently for decades, and the thought of ceding whatever assumed power commissioners held — or of losing their seats altogether — was too much for several to contemplate.

Third, and most egregious, among the reasons the city and county commissioners voted against consolidation was a notion, stirred primarily by Postell, Hayes and a couple of other commissioners on both boards, that consolidation was a “plot” by white officials to diminish the power of black voters and board members in a community whose population is overwhelmingly African American.

Ironically, Postell was a member of the committee that discussed at length and recommended consolidation, but he became one of the measure’s most outspoken opponents, citing, as he frequently did, concerns based on race.

Perhaps even more ironic is the fact that the consolidation plan that was put forward would actually have increased, not diluted, the potential for African-American strength in the combined government. The plan that was drawn up by the committee provided for five districts (of seven) with overwhelming majority black districts. Plus, the head of the consolidated government — whether that person would be called mayor, chairman or administrator — would be elected by the population at large.

Albany/Dougherty County had a significantly larger population then, but there was no way — as detractors claimed — that the proposed consolidation plan would have diluted black voting strength.

Bottom line? Several commissioners at the time — even those crying racial injustice or lack of fiscal responsibility — were afraid they’d lose their seats in a consolidated government, and they didn’t want to risk that happening, even if consolidation would have saved the government millions and millions of dollars on duplicative services.

Several officials on the current boards have mentioned consolidation as a possible solution in the aftermath of the kerfuffle over LOST, and that’s encouraging. But the truth is, few of them are willing to give up their perceived power on a personal level, even if doing so would offer the community a more streamlined, efficient government. As they showed in leaving $170 million in LOST funds at risk until the 11th hour — a disaster that would have cost property owners dearly — current officials are just like their predecessors: They’d much rather the community go up in flames than lose an iota of their own perceived power.

And that’s why we languish.