City-County Consolidation

Over the last two decades , a large body of literature has examined the fiscal impacts of city /county consolidation . Much of this research suggests that consolidation results in expansion of local budgets and in the scope and quality of municipal services (Erie , et . al . 1972 Benton and Gamble 1984 Seamon and Feiock 1995 . Recent studies suggest that consolidation also benefits local economic development efforts (Owen 1992 Rusk 1993 Savitch and Vogel 1995 . Unlike tax and expenditure effects , the impact of consolidation on local economic development has not been subjected to systematic empirical

tests . This note begins to fill this lacuna building on Benton and Gamble 's (1984 ) analysis of the effect of consolidation in Jacksonville on taxes and expenditures

Strategies for redeveloping urban areas have frequently involved two approaches . The first emphasizes big-ticket ' items - the sort associated with policies that emphasize tourism and entertainment - and includes such things as sports facilities , convention centers , theaters retail complexes , and entertainment and restaurant centers (ESPN Zone Hard Rock Cafy , etc . From New York to Los Angeles and from Miami to Seattle these facilities (and in most instances a constellation of several ) have been built to redefine or redevelop downtown and waterfront areas , train stations , and enhance a city 's image as a regional if not national tourist and recreation center . Without exception , a goal for these projects has been to fill large office buildings with workers while also attracting homeowners and apartment dwellers to inner city and downtown areas (Turner and Rosentraub , 2002 .The second approach emphasizes the redevelopment of neighborhoods by underscoring a commitment to affordable and market rate housing , art studios , and new business start-ups . The goal of this approach is the attraction of younger entrepreneurs and the workers described by Richard Florida as members of an economy 's creative class . This approach , which has its roots in the work of Jane Jacobs (1993 , also places a high value on walking trails , distinctive neighborhoods , parks , bicycle paths , and smaller entertainment venues . In neighborhoods with historic buildings , the emphasis has been on converting these facilities to new uses that also appeal to the creative workers who dominate today 's emerging industries (Clark , et . al , 2002 . Policies for neighborhood-based amenities have been used to redefine a city 's image while attracting new residents and the businesses that seek the creative workers who demand these assets (Lloyd , 2002 . Theoretically , a city-county consolidation merges an existing central city , its surrounding county , and other local municipalities into a single governmental unit . In practice , the two dozen or so city-county consolidations in the United States have fallen short of this ideal by typically retaining numerous municipalities and special-purpose governments . The major theory for explaining why some communities are successful in adopting consolidation while other fail has been posed by Rosenbaum and Kammerer , 1974 . According to these authors successful consolidation proceeds through a set of stages or events before consolidation is successful . Of particular interest for the purposes of this paper is that crises climates always precipitate successful...