Time to Change Our Municipal and County Codes?

From Keystone Politics

Jon Geeting over at Keystone Politics is up with a piece detailing the dangerous, expensive, inefficient, and senseless policing situation in Pennsylvania. He's right to call some of these forces little more than local militias, and to question their existence. He calls for consolidation though, which is a good idea, but doesn't fundamentally alter the problem of how services are delivered to the public.

It's time for the so-called "fiscal conservatives" in the legislature to take a look at what local and county government offer as services. Should tiny, largely rural counties with small populations out between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have their own school boards, police departments, and planning boards? I'm sure there are some who would say so, however they do so for largely local preference reasons, not because it is the most efficient, cost-effective, or results-producing way to govern. Should there be county police forces mandated in smaller counties? Should there maybe be county police forces everywhere? Probably yes.

But this isn't just a matter of policing, this is a matter of what state law says local and county governments have to provide. The correct answer is to shift more things out of tiny, rural communities, and onto the county level. No one is forcing people to leave rural America, but if you want to live there, the rest of us here in Pennsylvania should not subsidize an inefficient distribution of services. There are counties in Pennsylvania who have a smaller population than Palmer Township. The least we can do is not have every little village within them have their own police, schools, and infrastructure systems.