Perhaps a reboot and slaughter of sacred cows is what Macon-Bibb government needs

We are moving our children to a different school this coming year. Perhaps the most significant difference between the new school and the old school is that the new school uses real math instead of Common Core math. It is a genuinely empowering feeling to be able to help our children with math homework, something we struggled to do these past few years.

The “new” math taught in Common Core programs is so ridiculous even Disney’s “Incredibles 2” poked fun at it as Mr. Incredible screams at his son, “Why would they change math? Math is math. Math is math!” As he said this, parents in the packed theater I was in were all muttering in agreement. With our new school using real math that Pythagoras himself could understand, we have spent the summer with math tutors getting our children ready.

At first, our son met his tutor at one of the local libraries in Bibb County. But, due to the county budget, most of the libraries closed to save money. I looked on this somewhat cynically, assuming the County Commission made draconian cuts to justify tax increases. Some of them do want tax increases. It seems the Macon-Bibb County Commission always wants tax increases.

We consolidated the two governments several years ago to, allegedly, save money and bring some sanity back to local government. Arguably, neither has happened. Arguably, not a whole lot has changed other than the paint jobs on patrol cars.

I have this sense, shaped by talking to people on the County Commission and others in the community, that our elected officials have not really sat down since consolidation and examined the structure and dynamics of the consolidated government from a foundational standpoint. Yes, some things were tweaked, and others were changed. But no one sat down and considered perhaps we need to start over.

If the Bibb County government were started over from the ground up, what would we do differently? Would we maintain two airports or move one to a regional aviation authority? Would we keep all the parks and recreation programs or consolidate into a few large facilities? How would the retirement plans be structured and, given the existing structures, how could they be changed to move to where we would put them in a newly created system? Do we need all the governmental positions we have along with associated departments, etc.?

These are not easy questions, and I certainly do not have the answers. But I do think our local government should ask these questions. Every community, once it has been established, has sacred cows. Which ones can we slaughter? There are small signs we may be headed in appropriate directions. Downtown Macon will soon have parking meters, something long needed, but long delayed for fear of stalling growth. I still hope we return to standard parking on Second Street instead of the ridiculous parking between Cherry and Poplar streets.

Then, to bring this full circle, do we need government funded libraries? Between 1883 and 1929, Andrew Carnegie funded the construction of 1,689 libraries in the United States. Our community leaders support amazing things, often using public-private partnerships. Perhaps libraries in our community are something we can rethink. Instead of well-to-do north Macon parents complaining about library closures on Facebook, why not create an endowment to get them self-sustaining? We should all engage in a thorough rethinking of our consolidated county.

Erick Erickson is host of Atlanta’s Evening News on WSB Radio.

This story was originally published July 18, 2018 at 1:15 PM.