consolidated Milwaukee County? (El Paso, Mason: sales, school districts, property taxes)

[KoNgFooCj]

Would this be a good idea or a very bad idea?

[damba]

Originally Posted by KoNgFooCj

Would this be a good idea or a very bad idea?

Doesn’t matter what anyone thinks (it has been floated before), not likely to happen.

https://www.badgerinstitute.org/WIInterest/Hein12.1.pdf

[Master Jay]

Now you guys are in MY city's forum?!? ...
I just want a consolidated Milwaukee -Chicago!
You can call it Milcago, Chiwaukee or whatever!!
I'm okay with it, since it combines my home, and my "second home."
Have a great Sunday, guys. Master Jay in Milwaukee

[Mike from back east]

I favor a "sort of" consolidation where they make tax rates (and zoning laws) the same so developers cannot play one jurisdiction against the other.

What I've seen in COLO SPGS, CO is that the city and its surrounding El Paso County have different tax rates to include higher sales taxes and higher property taxes in the city. Thus much of the retail trade locates just over the city line even though it's all one big sprawl. The people are there because of the city but tax receipts don't support the city itself. They live over the line but work in the city and use city streets and other infrastructure while doing so.

What griped me about COLO SPGS and El Paso County is that they had over TWENTY school boards for a total population of 650k. I went to COLO SPGS from Fairfax County, VA which has ONE school board for a population in excess of 1M people and had a school system that was in the top ten in the nation. The duplication ($$$$$) in COLO SPGS and El Paso County cost them dearly but they did nothing about it.

In just about all cases where there's a bifurcation of city and county into separate political entities you have to pay for duplicate governments, schools, police, fire, courts, zoning boards, legal staffs, etc, etc.

They don't have to consolidate if they match the tax rates, zoning and a few other things but it would sure level the playing field.

[MortonR]

The school board arrangement, where you have individual school districts often by township, is common in the Midwest and north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Some states have districts based on counties, such as VA and FL, but the township or city arrangement is the more common of the two. This is what both Illinois and Wisconsin have.

Having worked in both types, I prefer the smaller arrangement. While it can be limiting because of a much smaller tax base, control is much better and the bureaucracy is thinner, making for a much more responsive management arrangement.

RM

[KoNgFooCj]

How interesting! I had no idea other people had thought of this in the past.