We appreciate Fresno County Supervisor Susan Anderson's attempt to find something positive to talk about during her State of the County speech on Wednesday. Anderson, who chairs the Board of Supervisors, cited the plan to build a high-speed rail system through the Valley, the opening of new libraries in the county and a few other reasons to be optimistic.
But Anderson, a veteran supervisor, also knows that this could be the worst time for California counties because of the legal constraints and mandates placed on them by the state. She outlined many of her county's challenges in her speech.
There's a structural problem with the way government is organized in California. In good economic times, the counties aren't adequately funded. So in this difficult economic period, Anderson and her four colleagues have little room to maneuver as they try to provide services with a limited budget.
Their budget hearings mostly consist of discussions on how much more can be cut and listening to department heads complain that they can't carry out their basic missions with the money they've been allocated.
We understand the cynicism of taxpayers who think all government is wasteful. That often is the case, and we don't know of a government agency that thinks it has enough money to spend. Most agencies could take more cuts and still perform their required services. But California counties may be as close to operating on bare-bones budgets as is possible in government.
That's why we don't understand Fresno County's reluctance to push for efficient consolidation of law enforcement services with the city of Fresno. Supervisors have dragged their feet on consolidation in the metropolitan area, which means protecting political turf is more important to them than saving money. Don't complain about not having enough funding and then give in to the status quo.
This is exactly the time when Fresno County's leaders must be innovators. Instead, the supervisors reject consolidation out of deference to the deputy sheriff's union and others who benefit from an inefficient operation.
Fresno County supervisors could be leaders in this area. It's too bad that they've taken a pass.
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