Reducing the size of the county Legislature is hardly a new idea, and it’s one that most people — including a number of sitting legislators, Democrat and Republican — agree with. And yet, even with recent charter recommendations that explicitly state the number of seats should be reduced from 39 to 25, we fear we may be no closer to seeing that become a reality anytime soon.
We worry the same foot-dragging that has become a hallmark of this bloated legislative body will keep the Charter Review Commission’s recommendations from making it to the voters in November so they can finally weigh in. What, you may ask, could possibly hold things up? Well, true to fashion, the Legislature has formed a committee to review the review commission’s recommendations (yes, you read that correctly), and we suspect the back-and-forth that could ensue will make it impossible to meet the Sept. 30 deadline for any revisions to make it on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Granted, there are probably plenty of kinks to work out of the commission’s proposal and some logistics to get squared away as to how a downsizing and redistricting will work, but we certainly hope the committee moves quickly and with voters in mind. The bottom line is, this reduction has to happen because a county legislature this size — the biggest in the state — is tripping over its own feet more often than not.
Some may argue that cutting the size of the legislature will reduce the close interaction residents have with their lawmakers, but a ratio of one legislator to about 7,000 residents is hardly an advantage when some of those legislators make very little effort beyond showing up at the monthly meetings. Others say the taxpayer savings from a downsizing would be lost if the remaining lawmakers have to increase staffing to deal with their bigger districts. We doubt that would be necessary, and, in an economy where private sector employees have been asked to do more with less for years, voters have little tolerance for wasteful spending. We can hope that our county legislators care as much about our money as we do.
Let’s also not forget that the charter reform recommendations include so much more than just the proposal to downsize the legislature. It is a clunky document in dire need of updating. We’d like to add our voices to those calling for the legislature to prepare a final charter revision for voters this fall.