consolidate or die: fiscal crunch forces Metro Detroit to face the facts of balkanization

Metro Detroit communities are exploring ways to consolidate services. Financial realities are forcing municipalities to consider options that have long been politically unpopular. Governor Snyder's proposed budget will reward local governments that work together.

March 14, The Detroit News:  The governor's 2012 budget proposal, unveiled last month, includes a $200 million incentive-based revenue sharing program for local governments that adopt "best practices" in regard to consolidation. He is expected to release more details this month to clarify his offer.

Communities would continue to get state-shared revenue guaranteed by the state Constitution, but Snyder wants to replace so-called statutory funds — which are distributed by the Legislature based on the amount cities received the previous year — with incentives for pooling services.

"Local governments had been collaborating on the easy, low-hanging fruit — the things that weren't really noticeable, like sharing building inspectors or joint payroll processing," he said. "Now, increasingly, they're looking at the bigger-ticket items like police and fire."

Detroit communities have a long history of going it alone. The roots are deep. During the early 20th century Henry Ford quickly moved his company to Highland Park and later Dearborn, to find a better deal. The Dodge brothers used all their politically might to ensure Hamtramck would not be incorporated into Detroit. The action kept Hamtramck a separate city and the Dodge brother's tax rates lower. These precedents set the course the Metro area was to follow the rest of the century. Detroit vs suburb, suburb vs suburb.

The system sort of worked when times were good but property values in the region are down 32 percent since 2007. That means less money for local governments.

One of the most obvious signs that Detroit communities are not working together is the area's two transportation departments;. D-Dot for the city, SMART for the suburbs.  The redundancy is big as a bus.

Communities that see the writing on wall have a head start. If local governments work together with close neighbors they will benefit separately and the Metro area benefits as a whole.

Municipalities that dither face drastic budget cuts or Emergency Financial Managers with their new potential powers. The choice for each is change now or be forced to change.