EDITORIAL: The region – and all of Pennsylvania – has too many municipalities
The region – and all of Pennsylvania – has too many municipalities
West Alexander sits on the westernmost edge of Washington County, a stone’s toss from the West Virginia line.
A fair happens nearby, the town has an undeniable charm and it’s steeped in history – if you stroll around its cemeteries, you’ll find stones that have been there for two centuries.
West Alexander had been a borough up until 2009, when financial woes led it to shed that status and join up with surrounding Donegal Township. Now, however, some residents have experienced buyer’s remorse and, 16 years later, would like West Alexander to be a borough once again. They say that West Alexander being independent from Donegal Township would boost revitalization opportunities.
If this is what the residents of West Alexander want, and they jump through all the necessary hoops, then their wishes should be respected and West Alexander should be a borough again. But it would be another municipality to add to the long list of them in Washington County. And the reality is, Washington County – and pretty much every county in the commonwealth – could use fewer governmental entities, not more of them.
Right now, Washington County has 66 municipalities, Fayette County has 42 and Greene County has 26. That’s a lot of municipalities, especially when you consider the teeny population numbers of some of these dots on the map – Green Hills has about 20 people, and Twilight has a little more than 200. If you add up all the municipalities in all three counties, it comes to 134 – just four more than the 130 municipalities in Allegheny County. Allegheny County has more municipalities than any other in Pennsylvania, and more than in the entire state of Massachusetts.
How did we get to this point? Many of these communities came into being in the days of the horse and buggy, and since counties in Pennsylvania don’t have unincorporated areas, they all get carved up accordingly. Some elected officials are reluctant to give up their fiefs, and residents are reluctant to do away with a place that is woven into their identities. But it means that these communities have to compete for federal and state funding, and some may struggle to provide basic services as their tax base shrinks. Many elected officials have put forward proposals over the years on municipal consolidation, and we have long supported efforts to make this happen. Perhaps one day it will.
Though Pennsylvania government can seem antiquated and sclerotic, it’s not an impossible dream. In the 1960s, Pennsylvania whittled down its more than 2,000 school districts to a much more manageable 669. An additional 168 were eliminated in the 1970s. With the right incentives and enough urgency, some municipalities might decide it’s in their best interest to merge.
As the old saying goes, just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it has to continue being done that way.