Milledgeville-Baldwin County consolidation measure proves contentious

On Nov. 3, voters in Baldwin County and Milledgeville will decide if they want to erase city boundaries and merge into a city-county government.

Consolidation here has been a hot and contentious issue for months. Supporters say a city-county marriage would mean cash savings and better public services, but skeptics contend it could be a bad match.

"I think there's a huge advantage to efficiency in services" if a merger happens, said Stan Aldridge, vice chairman of A United Milledgeville-Baldwin. He and other supporters think it could save millions of dollars.

But Gregory Barnes, who is leading the Committee Opposing Consolidation, said he sees no guarantee of that and thinks that "in rural areas, you're going to get less service for more money."

A voter-approved consolidation proposal would get rid of the incumbent elected officials in the Milledgeville City Council and Baldwin County Commission and set up March 1 elections for a new county commission made up of people elected from each of five new districts, plus an at-large mayor and vice mayor.

Those new officials would knit together departments that are now separate. For example, city police would merge into the county sheriff's office.

There would still be an urban core that could be taxed differently within the Milledgeville-Baldwin County unified government. The new commission must set up an "urban services" district where the tax rate could be higher in exchange for more public services such as sidewalks. It would be up to those seven elected officials to set those borders, tax rates and list of services.

Some of Georgia's bigger cities -- Athens, Augusta, Columbus and Macon -- already have consolidated governments. Supporters say there are big advantages to a Milledgeville-Baldwin County merger.

One aim would be to cut taxes, and maybe get the city's higher tax structure in line with the county's, said Aldridge, who has served on two different consolidation study committees over the past few years.

"Hopefully with efficiency and manpower and workforce and that sort of thing, we'll save some money and can do that, cut down on taxes, city taxes," he said.

State Rep. Rusty Kidd, I-Milledgeville, predicts that unification would mean savings of about $5 million over two years. But that would depend on about 16 to 20 percent of employees leaving in a given year, he said.

The past few years have been tough for Baldwin County: The slow closure of Plant Branch and Central State Hospital has resulted in thousands of jobs lost.

According to the county's latest annual financial report, Baldwin's property tax income, which includes Milledgeville and pays for services in both the unincorporated and incorporated areas, has yet to recover and get back to its 2010 high point.

Kidd, who carried the consolidation bill to Atlanta for legislative approval, has long supported unification as a way to get the community speaking with one voice when trying to attract new businesses.

"The community would be more cohesive without the infighting between City Council and county commissioners," Kidd said.

At least part of the business community seems pretty receptive to a unified government. The Milledgeville-Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce polled its members and of the 45 percent who answered, about 51 percent said they support the merger. About 10 percent oppose it. Almost 40 percent say they're undecided.

Supporters also say a merger would improve services by erasing the zigzag boundary lines that divide the city and county. For example, Aldridge said, in some places, the closest fire department is not the one that answers the call. Erasing the lines means no one has to consult a map before responding to a fire.

But critics say the plan lacks details and argue that the outcome is unclear at best.

"You don't have any due diligence, research," Barnes said.

That's a common complaint among critics, who point out that before Macon-Bibb voters went to the polls for consolidation, they had a nonpartisan study of their proposed government written by the University of Georgia, laying out projected costs and benefits. That's not the case in Milledgeville and Baldwin County.

David Pettigrew, vice chairman of the Committee Opposing Consolidation, predicts taxes will go up in what are now unincorporated areas, as residents there are asked to pay for services they don't get or want.

"If you live 10 miles out in the country on a dirt road, you're not getting the same services people who live in downtown Milledgeville are getting, but you're paying the same taxes," Pettigrew said.

He also said he doesn't think consolidation would do much for the unemployment rate, pointing out that the major consolidated governments have unemployment rates higher than the state as a whole. Georgia's unemployment rate is 5.8 percent, according to August numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The rate in consolidated areas -- Athens-Clarke County, Augusta-Richmond County, Columbus-Muscogee County and Macon-Bibb County -- range between 6 percent and 7.6 percent.

Pettigrew said there are some things worth merging, such as 911 call centers, but those can be done via city-county agreements.

Critics also say there is a chance that because of at-large voting in a majority-white county, along with how the new map lines are drawn, that the percentage of black elected officials could shrink overall.

Aldridge said supporters asked the mapmakers at the state Legislature for two things: a map that complies with the law that bans racial gerrymandering and that includes parts of both city and county in each district.

As for the lack of studies, Milledgeville-Baldwin merger supporters say it makes common sense that consolidation will save money. And for anyone who is worried about higher taxes, "you elect the right people, taxes won't go up," Kidd said.

Voters in both the city and in the county overall, which includes the city, must approve the charter. If consolidation fails, it would take a vote by the state Legislature in Atlanta to approve another proposal and public referendum.

In that event, Kidd said he does not know if he would bring another consolidation bill to the Capitol next year.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Milledgeville-Baldwin County consolidation measure proves contentious ."