Tale of two mergers: Athens, Ga.

Typically, experts say, consolidations are most successful following a crisis, or as a means to solve a pressing problem in the community.

Athens, Ga., which consolidated with Clarke County in 1991, considers itself the exception.

Its residents' attitudes about consolidation, which the merger's architects describe as largely unopposed and noncontroversial, could be summed up by the comments of one resident who spoke at a public hearing, said Pat Allen, chairman of the committee that spearheaded the consolidation.

"A farmer stood up at one of our public meetings, and said, 'All I know is, it costs a whole lot less to feed one hog than it does to feed two,' " Allen said. "Consolidation - we actually called it unification - just made sense to us. Our campaign slogan wasn't negative, or focusing on problems. It was just: 'A better way.' "

With its college-town vibe and its population of roughly 110,000, Athens-Clarke County has long been discussed as a model for Gainesville and Alachua County's consolidation talks.

As is common with consolidated governments, the successful referendum in Athens-Clarke County followed three unsuccessful ones, said Harry Hayes, local government project director at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Proponents had long argued that in such a tiny county - at 125 square miles, it's geographically the smallest county in Georgia and the second smallest in the country - it was foolish to have more than one government.

Its population was relatively small, too. Clarke County had a population of 87,594 when it consolidated in 1991.

The idea cropped up again in the late 1980s at a meeting among a group of residents called the Quality Growth Task Force. Allen, who was involved in that group and went on to chair the committee for unification, said by the time the formal commission had formed, the group had decided to seek as much community input as possible, aiming to win the hearts and minds of Athens residents long before the vote.

Allen said that, plus the campaign's common-sense approach, likely resulted in the referendum's passage.

"We were very careful not to say that this would lower taxes," Allen said. "We just said it would constrain future tax increases, which I believe it's done, and would provide the ability of small communities to speak with one voice."

A host of other factors led to Athens-Clarke County's successful consolidation, officials said.

Hayes said the city and county had already begun to share key functions, including a planning staff and commission. He said the major departments left to be consolidated are the police departments and administrative staff.

And while there was no crisis to spur the consolidation, Hayes said there was growing discontent in the community about "constant squabbling" between city and county commissioners.

The referendum passed with 58 percent of city residents and 59 percent of county residents supporting it in 1990. The two governments were effectively merged by the next year.

The major academic study looking at Athens-Clarke County's consolidation showed an increase in the government's overall spending, including law enforcement, judicial and physical environment expenditures, but a decrease in the cost of administrative services in the years following the merger. More than $470,000 was budgeted for transition costs alone, according to the study.

Still, the overall results point to "greater efficiency and reduced costs in general government or administrative services when the consolidation occurs in a relatively small county," wrote the study's authors, Sally Coleman Selden and Richard W. Campbell, of Syracuse University and the University of Georgia/Georgia State University, respectively.

Hayes said the absence of huge cost savings isn't a surprise, and isn't necessarily the mark of a less efficient government.

"If you assume all of the city and county employees are gainfully employed - that they are doing what they need to be doing at work - most of the work they're doing is still going to be needed," Hayes said. "It doesn't mean you no longer have the same number of miles of road to maintain, the same number of businesses to issue licenses for or the same number of houses to pick up garbage from. The savings you'll see is mostly in key top management positions, in that you don't need two managers, two finance directors and so on. But those savings don't amount to a whole lot."

And the savings in positions eliminated through attrition can contribute to a hidden cost of consolidation, according to the study.

Interviews and surveys during the roughly seven-year study, which spanned from the time of the consolidation to about 1997, found that "employee discontent was pervasive throughout the government" despite the new charter's mandate that no full-time employee be laid off or take a pay cut, the study said. It noted that the discontent has tapered in the years following the consolidation, a phenomenon Allen said is easy to explain.

"It was a risk, but our thought was that if you had one new manager, and the other manager was made his assistant, probably the No. 2 guy at least starts looking for another job," Allen said. "That's pretty much what happened across the board."

The study's bottom line: The main variable in a consolidated government's efficiency and savings is governmental structure rather than the consolidation itself, and that "there is nothing intrinsic in merging two governments that necessarily produces greater efficiency and lower costs."

Hayes said in Athens' case, the ability to tailor the city and county's government to meet the actual current needs of city and county residents was perhaps the merger's greatest success.

"This was an opportunity for elected officials, citizens and staff to really start from scratch, to create a governmental structure oriented toward providing services in today's environment," Hayes said. "It allowed the whole community to take a fresh look at how everything was being done."

Amy Reinink can be reached at 352-374-5088 or reinina@gvillesun.com.