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| Also listed in: Female political bloggers |
Categories: Budget Priorities, Public Infrastructure / Transportation, Front Page
In keeping with my Embrace the Dull theme, let's talk about county government.
Here's an interesting fact -- and it may be the last you read here -- there are 88 counties in Ohio, the same as the number of keys on a piano! Whee!
Who runs county government? Three-person boards of elected county commissioners in 87 counties; just-has-to-be-different Summit County has a county executive and council.
What do county officials do? They don't make laws. They manage county business and enforce state and federal regulations. The scope of responsibility is quite broad. Counties handle public safety (police, prisons, justice system), infrastructure (highways, sewers, bridges) and public welfare (assistance programs).
All these county services are paid for with sales tax. In Franklin County, the rate is currently 6.75% (COTA buses collect 0.5% of this sales tax.) Six and three-quarters cents of every dollar spent is not such a bad deal considering all the fundamental services counties provide.
County commissioners are usually low-key individuals who you don't hear about until a bridge collapses or a levee breaks. As politicians they are almost invisible.
When disaster strikes, who you gonna call? Probably a county commissioner.
In other words, you get a whole lot of county infrastructure for 3/4 cents of every dollar you spend.