Regarding your January 15 editorial (“Orange County cities eye tax hikes, not spending cuts”), to maintain city services without increasing taxes, Orange County should consider reducing the number of local government units. 

The number of Orange County cities has grown significantly. In 1960, there were only 15. By 1975 there were 25. Today, 34. This number will increase as new cities are formed in South County.

The City of Orange (population 138,000) has an entire city (Villa Park, population 6,000) within its boundaries, and a retirement community, formerly called Leisure World, is now a city  (Laguna Woods, population 17,000). Perhaps the University of California at Irvine (population 40,000) should secede from Irvine and form its own city?

Each city has its own elected council, staff, city hall, and other buildings, which have become increasingly extravagant.  Orange County has  three times as many elected officials as all of state government.

It’s true that new cities have been added to accommodate the growth in the county’s population (from 1.7 million in 1975 to 3.2 million today). But state and national populations have also grown. Yet we still have one government per state, one president and one Congress. 

Local government is the fastest growing level of government largely because  local government is the only level of government citizens can create. That’s good news for would-be electeds and government job seekers, but bad news for taxpayers. 

For example, each of Orange County’s 34 cities has its own city manager. Seven cities — Anaheim, Irvine, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, Fullerton and Orange — account for more than half of OC’s population (total: 1.6 million). Why do we need 27 more city managers to manage the other half of OC’s population?

Likewise, there appears to be a duplication of effort: Orange County has more than 20 individual police departments (plus the Orange County Sheriff) and 10 city-based fire agencies, plus the Orange County Fire Authority.  

Some fire stations in different cities are a stone’s throw from one another because they were  located with a “city-centric” rather than a “county-centric” mindset. Mother Nature, of course, does not recognize political boundaries.

Each of these departments has its own chief, assistant chief and staff. 

Ironically, “liberal” San Francisco, which has a consolidated city and county government, has only one police department and one fire department.

Orange County also has over 13 independently elected water districts, each with its own board of directors and administration. The city of Los Angeles (population 3.8 million) just has one. Why does it take an average of four (4) government agencies to flush a toilet in Orange County?

Orange County also has 34 special districts (many of which deal with water, but also mosquitos, libraries and cemeteries). Each has its own board of directors, staff and building.

Do we really need an Orange County Department of Education and an Orange County Board of Education with its own administration, especially when each school district has its own board?

Orange County should learn from other municipalities such as  Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Anchorage, and Philadelphia, which have merged and consolidated local government entities.  

We have the power to reorganize local government. Orange County separated from Los Angeles in 1889 and school districts have merged due to fiscal pressures brought on by declining enrollment. These changes were made to align governing units with contemporary needs.

Efficiency is not the only value that should guide the organization of local government. Access, responsiveness, accountability and tradition matter too.

Orange Countians love local government—lots of it. They just need to know what it costs and be willing to pay the price.  

Fred Smoller is on the political science faculty at Chapman University where he teaches a course on local politics. He lives in the city of Orange.