(Published Thursday, August 16, 2007 11:42:01 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Stacy Vogel svogel@gazetteextra.com
It's been a long time since Wisconsinites hopped into their horse-drawn wagons to travel to the county courthouse.
So state Rep. Frank Lasee questions why county lines today look exactly the same as they did then.
Wisconsin's 72 counties originally were drawn so no resident would be more than a one-day buggy ride from the county seat.
Lasee, R-Green Bay, said the divisions waste money by duplicating services that could be performed with fewer counties.
A bill co-authored by Lasee would establish a committee to look at cutting the number of counties to 18 or fewer-a 75 percent drop. Lasee is confident the change could save taxpayers money, but officials in Rock County and elsewhere have serious concerns with the plan.
Fewer counties would reduce infrastructure and simplify interactions with the state, Lasee said.
"By having larger counties, we would have more economy of scale," he said.
For example, instead of 72 computer systems to handle human services, taxpayers would have to support just 18, he said. The state would have to deal with only 18 county administrations when doling out benefits.
Lasee said counties already collaborate. Rock County, for example, contracts with Dane County to handle its psychiatric and alcohol detoxification services.
"Why not do that on a large scale?" he asked.
Rock County Board Chairman Richard Ott called the proposal "much ado about nothing." Reducing the number of counties wouldn't save money and would take away representation, he said.
"I don't know where the savings are going to come," he said. "You're still going to need the jails; the nursing homes aren't going to close."
Meanwhile, merging the governments could be a nightmare because each county has its own way of running things, Ott said. For example, Walworth County creates its own zoning, while Rock County leaves zoning to city, village and town governments.
It isn't the idea of reducing government that disturbs Mark O'Connell, executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association. It's the method the legislators propose, he said.
"Our objection to the bill is that it presupposes that there is a magic number of counties and then puts together a task force to justify a pre-determined conclusion," he said.
Lasee said he expects opposition from county officials.
"I wouldn't expect many county officials, unless they're very progressive and thinking ahead, to support this," he said. "Quite frankly, they want to protect their little fiefdom."
Ott responded in kind.
"If they want to shrink something, quit picking on the counties and look internally," he said. "Maybe instead of 99 people in the Assembly, they could get by with half of that."
County comparison
Counties in the United States vary widely in size, area and function. Here are some facts about counties from the National Association of Counties and the U.S. Census Bureau:
-- Rock County ranks in the top 20 percent for county population with 159,000. Only 495 of the nation's 3,068 counties have populations above 100,000.
-- Counties range in area from 26 square miles (Arlington County, Va.) to 87,860 square miles (North Slope, Alaska). Rock County is 720 square miles.
-- County populations vary from 67 (Loving County, Texas) to 9.5 million (Los Angeles County, Calif.)
-- Wisconsin ranks 19th in number of counties with 72. By comparison, it ranks 20th in population and 25th in land area.
-- Hawaii and Delaware have the fewest counties with three each, while Texas has the most with 254.
