LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Now is an excellent time to discuss consolidation

Dear editor:

The New Year is fast approaching. This is a good time for local government officials to make some New Year’s resolutions. I have some suggestions:

First of all, unless they want to continue to fight over sales tax revenue and look like buzzards fighting over a dead cow, 2023 would be an excellent time for a serious discussion about a combined city/county government. I think it is evident that this would be an excellent way of reducing the tax burden on citizens and avoiding public spectacles of this sort.

Almost as needful is a conversation about thinning out the special-purpose police departments (School System Police, ASU Police, Albany Police, Dougherty County Police, etc. etc.). It looks ridiculous to see a “police department” smaller that an army platoon, which would be run by a sergeant, headed up by a person wearing the stars of a lieutenant general. And taxpaying citizens are entitled to a more efficient structure and less waste of their tax dollars.

This would also be a good time to take a hard look at how we provide free services to real estate owned by nonprofit organizations. While I do agree that we should not tax nonprofits, that should not be the end of the story. We expect churches and other nonprofits to pay for electricity and water. Why should they not pay for fire protection? A simple annual fee for fire protection, based on building footage, seems fair. No nonprofit would have to pay if they chose not to do so. Most probably would, if only to be able to get insurance coverage, since I doubt an insurance company would write a policy to protect a building to which the fire department would not respond.

Running a city or a county is not like running a business. They cannot be judged by their profitability. They can and should, however, be judged by their stewardship of public money.

Michael C. Hall

Albany