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Township
supervisors hold public meetings at least once a month, and
it is at these sessions that they discuss the issues and make
the decisions that have the most impact on you and your neighbors.
Under the law, citizens have the right to address the board
about matters before it. When deciding on a course of action,
the supervisors will weigh your concerns along with their
responsibilities under state and federal laws.
"Township government is the government closest to the people,"
Hadley says. "Residents can speak up at a township meeting
and have a profound impact on what happens in their community.
This happens every day in Pennsylvania because township supervisors
are responsive to the needs and concerns of their neighbors."
To help with the administrative side of running a local government,
most townships have full or part-time secretaries, secretary-treasurers,
or managers. And depending on their size, they may also have
additional staff, including road masters, road workers, zoning
and code enforcement officers, and consulting engineers, to
help with the township's day-to-day operations.
Is bigger really better?
Still, despite their
popularity with Pennsylvanians, townships have come under
fire in recent years. Special-interest groups claim that the
commonwealth has too many local governments and would be better
served by a centralized system of fewer, bigger governments.
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This,
however, goes against the grain of what the public says it
wants.
According to a survey of registered Pennsylvania voters by
the Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion, 80 percent of the
respondents said that their local government should not be
replaced with a countywide government; 81 percent said that
merger decisions should be made locally and should not be
required by the state; and 70 percent said that their municipality
should not merge with a surrounding one.
"Pennsylvania has so many local governments because that's
what the citizens want," says Lowman Henry, chairman and CEO
of the Lincoln Institute.
Wendell Cox, a government consolidation expert who has studied
Pennsylvania, agrees, saying that state lawmakers should listen
to their constituents and reject proposals that would force
local governments to consolidate with larger, urban areas.
Why? No one would benefit, especially taxpayers, Cox says.
In fact, the only thing that forced consolidation would do,
he says, is spread the higher costs and inefficiencies of
the larger jurisdiction over a larger area.
Howard Husock of the John F. Kennedy School of Government
at Harvard University supports Cox's conclusions. "Crucial
to this point of view is a crucial mistake, the mistaken idea
that bigger government can be more efficient and effective
government," he adds, "Yet, study after study has shown that
the efficiency gains of bigger government do not materialize."
Article
courtesy of PSATS Township News
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