Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Could County Authorities Disappear?
County Council’s Government Reform Committee is debating legislation to end the existence of the Port Authority, ALCOSAN, and the Airport Authority. If a proposed resolution passes, the Committee will commission a feasibility study to examine whether these authorities can be dissolved or privatized.
There are many examples of the private sector doing a remarkable job providing mass transit service, sewage treatment, and running airports. So it is not too far of a stretch to say that there is a possibility that the authorities could be dissolved.
But at the same time, authorities everywhere are quite powerful entities that possess most powers of general purpose governments except for the power to levy taxes (though PAT fares, sewer fees, and landing charges aren’t exactly voluntary). We would be surprised to find many instances of authorities going out of business—they usually morph into something else, like the City’s Stadium Authority. It owned Three Rivers Stadium and was to go out of business as the rubble of the facility was cleared away. Yet it is still here, signing off on development on the North Shore.
Likely what County Council will find is that it would take a vote of the board of each authority to end its existence. So that means appointing people committed to taking that action, and of course that has to happen over several years as board terms are often staggered. It can happen, but there aren’t many case studies to guide the way.
There are many examples of the private sector doing a remarkable job providing mass transit service, sewage treatment, and running airports. So it is not too far of a stretch to say that there is a possibility that the authorities could be dissolved.
But at the same time, authorities everywhere are quite powerful entities that possess most powers of general purpose governments except for the power to levy taxes (though PAT fares, sewer fees, and landing charges aren’t exactly voluntary). We would be surprised to find many instances of authorities going out of business—they usually morph into something else, like the City’s Stadium Authority. It owned Three Rivers Stadium and was to go out of business as the rubble of the facility was cleared away. Yet it is still here, signing off on development on the North Shore.
Likely what County Council will find is that it would take a vote of the board of each authority to end its existence. So that means appointing people committed to taking that action, and of course that has to happen over several years as board terms are often staggered. It can happen, but there aren’t many case studies to guide the way.
