Smart City Memphis blog writer and Memphis Magazine columnist, Tom Jones, came to the University of Memphis to speak today about the topic of consolidation between the City of Memphis and Shelby County Governments.
He told the crowd that one of the biggest myths about government consolidation is that it saves a great deal of money. Jones said this simply isn't true for the most part. He did say that if any money is saved, it is at the administration level, but that it wouldn't be enough to make a difference. He pointed to Louisville, KY having a successful consolidation and that Nashville also successfully consolidated its city and county governments. For Nashville, however, that was about 45 years ago that they consolidated and that it has taken most of that time for improvements to show. Heavy proponents for city and county consolidation may be looking at it as a "quick fix" to the city's and county's budget problems.
Under Tennessee state law, for consolidation to pass and become a reality, it must be voted in with a dual majority, meaning that it must pass within the City of Memphis as well as pass outside the city. Also, when or if the governments consolidate, state law likewise says that the school systems must merge. Some within the Shelby County School system are vehemently opposed to that idea.
Jones offered a suggestion that could be seen as a compromise to consolidation. Memphis City Government would be responsible for services that are inclusive to the upkeep of the city, i.e. Fire Services, Police Services, and Waste Management Services, while Shelby County Government would be responsible for all other services.
Another topic discussed was school consolidation in which Jones revealed a great idea, from Mayor Herenton of all people. The idea is to split the very large school district of 150,000 students into 5 smaller sub-districts of about 30,000 students each. Each sub-district will be appointed a superintendent and these 5 superintendents will report to the school board and an elected "Grand Poohbah" superintendent. Actually a VERY good idea. Maybe this idea will come to fruition even if Herenton is not appointed superintendent of Memphis City Schools.
Learned a lot about this topic today. Wendy, are you sure I can't change my topic?
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Oh yes. He told us very good information. I enjoyed hearing him and finally getting to see the man behind the blog. I like the way you written everything he covered in a blog post because I probably wouldn't have done it so well.
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