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I have a hard time distinguishing the 2 municipalities. They seem to be the same place however have 2 entirely different PAID Governments, boards, HR depts etc. With all these budget shortfalls and garbage going on with the economy in Charlotte; wouldn't it make sense to combine the 2 municipalities and make just one government? I guess it's like this so the politicians can have jobs too? Wouldn't that save a ton of money?
Actually some functions between the city and county have been combined, like the police department and the school district. So we have kind of a quasi-merged city/county government.
CMPD is funded through the City only, not that County....The Sheriffs Office is strictly County and not City. The Schools are County (as far as I know and NOT city). Look at the County budget...there is no allocation for CMPD
There have been movements in the past to combine them, but they have always failed for some reason or another. It would make sense at this time to merge them, but they grew separately as a necessity.
FYI, the only "politicians" in City/County goverment are the board of county commissioners (9) and the City Council (12). There are thousands of employees though, most of whom would be unaffected by a merger since most services aren't redundant....
We found the main difference after we became annexed into the City of Charlotte was the tax bill! It just about doubled.....seemed the main service we got was trash pickup - but what we were paying for it quarterly was much cheaper than the tax increase! That being said, Charlotte was a great place to live!
Mecklenburg county also includes the municipalities of Mint Hill, Pineville, Cornelius, Matthews, Huntersville and Davidson. Those places most likely would not support a consolidation with Charlotte.
I have never seen such a cross over in city/county government as here. In California, the roles were very separated. At least in the town I lived in in California, the sheriff's department only handled things outside of the city limits (unless cooperation was requested) and city police only handled things within the city limits of their own city. And the Highway Patrol took care of all highways and roads outside of any city limits - it was always very clear to me who did what and where!!
The biggest reason I see for not merging the two is that Charlotte government is (should be??) focused on Charlotte's welfare, the county is (should be??) looking out for all the towns in the county, plus those who live outside of city limits. With a merger it would be very easy for those smaller towns to get completely trampled.
While many sheriff's departments provide police services to unincorporated areas, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Department does not. It's responsible for running the jail, courhouse security, and serving warrants.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department provides police services to Charlotte and unincorporated Mecklenburg County. Funding comes from city property taxes and a supplemental property tax paid by property owners in unincorporated areas. The Police Chief answers to the city manager.
Each of the six towns has its own police department.
It still looks streamlined to me coming from Pittsburgh. There, there were dozens of municipalities surrounding PGH. Each had their own council, police chief/staff, sometimes schools, taxing authority, etc. I am speaking of those little towns within Allegheny county surrounding Pittsburgh. We paid school taxes to one, municipality taxes to the other, and county taxes to a third.
Mongahela, Braddock, Churchill, Penn Hills, Wilkinsburg, Duquesne, Forrest Hills, Monroeville, I could go on and on. And I am only speaking of those on the east end with which I am familiar.
So, this area, by comparison, looks streamlined to me!
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