Editorial: Time to look at merger again

Published 4:54 pm Tuesday, January 3, 2017

It has been almost five years since a commission created by the state Legislature recommended merging the public works, parks and recreation, and law enforcement patrol services of Dalton and Whitfield County.

With the county Board of Commissioners having passed a 2.5-mill property tax increase last year and the City Council looking at a tax increase this year, it’s well past time officials with both the county and the city looked at implementing that proposal.

And though that commission ultimately decided not to recommend a full merger of the city and county, we believe it is time to take a hard look at that idea as well. Some of the differences between the city and county that stood between a full merger then — such as differences in alcoholic beverage laws and employee retirement plans — have been reduced or eliminated.

As former Dalton mayor David Pennington and others have noted, the median income in Whitfield County is still below the 2006 level and many city and county residents, though not city and county employees, have gone years without a pay raise.

But both county commissioners and City Council members seem to be unwilling to ask any fundamental questions about whether the level of services they provide is truly needed and whether they are providing them in the most efficient way possible.

Just looking at merging departments of the two governments would force them to ask those questions. And actually merging services or even governments could save taxpayers money.

What is certain is that the two governments cannot continue to do business as usual. County residents are poorer than they were a decade ago. The tax digest continues to shrink. Sales tax revenue is not growing.

Elected officials can’t continue to act as if they are flush with money because the people who pay their bills certainly aren’t.