Mahoney pitches consolidation idea
State Rep. Tim Mahoney said creating a regional police department would help combat drug trafficking throughout Fayette County, and establishing a regional school board and administration to oversee all school districts in the county would save tax dollars. However, regionalizing schools and police would require enough support from residents to overcome the culture of “invisible lines” that elected officials maintain around individual municipalities and school districts, he said.
Mahoney, D-South Union Township, outlined his ideas and proposed legislation for regionalization at the Fayette Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Council’s “Conversation with+” luncheon on Friday.
“We need to start running school districts like businesses,” Mahoney said.
He sponsored House Bill 351 that would allow school district administrations to consolidate.
“All I ask for is an open mind. Let me do some studies and then let taxpayers decide,” Mahoney said.
He said he is trying to get a foundation to pay for a study of a school district administrative consolidation. If a foundation agrees, the state Department of Education agreed to conduct a second study, he said.
The studies would show how much taxpayers could save and Mahoney said he needs to know what those savings would be before he tries to “sell” the plan.
He estimated that taxpayers would pay 15 to 20 percent less in school real estate taxes if administrative consolidation takes place, Mahoney said.
“Once you show the public how much they can save, that’s all they need,” Mahoney said.
His plan calls for one school board member to be elected from each of the seven sections the county would be divided into. Each school district would keep its own identity, he said.
Having one school board would result in all the districts using the same textbooks, which would benefit students who move during the school year, and also could lead to districts sharing teachers and facilities, Mahoney said.
Virginia and Maryland have county-based school district administrations, he said.
County voters would have to approve of a regional school board through a referendum, Mahoney said.
A referendum isn’t needed for forming a countywide police department, but Mahoney said he would like to see residents vote on the matter.
Currently, some municipalities have their own police departments, but others don’t.
Mahoney said the cultural lines between the “haves and have-nots” must be erased to combat drugs.
“We all deserve equal,” he said.
“People don’t want to admit we have a bad drug problem. We have one of the worst drug problems in the state,” Mahoney said.
He said it would cost about $8 million a year to run a county police department with 160 officers. A regional tax would be needed to pay for it. State and federal incentives are available for regional police, he said.
State police would back up the county department, Mahoney said. He said state police lack the manpower to properly patrol all of the county’s 900 square miles.
Officials from some municipalities oppose the idea, he said, noting that no supervisors from North Union Township or South Union Township, the two largest townships in the county, attended a meeting he held last month to discuss regionalization.
Two bills pending in the Legislature would require municipalities without their own police departments to pay a per-resident fee for state police services, Mahoney said.
One bill sets the fee at $100 per resident and the one Mahoney said is more likely to pass starts with a $56 fee, but it increases to $158 after three years.
“We can do it cheaper if we come together as a community,” Mahoney said.