Written by gary kidd | 10 July 2010

The county and city governments aren't in fiscal disarray due to the absence of a metro form of government. They are in fiscal disarray because of poor leadership. Many people that make the budget decisions at the local levels have little financial experience and have exercised poor judgment and made bad long term decisions for so long that the fruits of these ill planted decisions have finnaly began to bear. It has nothin to do with consolidation.A metro government only serves to make three small poorly managed systems a very large poorly managed system. The economy of scale doesn't apply when the same people that couldn't manage the slices of the pie are still in charge of the whole pie. All the metro does is put the individual one step further from the people making the decisions on their behalf. Just like the relationship we have with the state and the federal governments today. Consolidation coupled with the current incompetence is a recipie for fiscal disaster but on a larger scale. Your financial demons lie within each of the three governments but not in their form, only in their performance. Not having clear goals and long range plans to see these goals met are the problem. It has little to do with having three entities to work through. A government as close to the people that it represents is the most responsive form of a government that we can have. To form a metro government in Coffee county and use Tullahoma's higher property tax collections and large sales tax collections in an attempt to balance an out of control County budget will leave the county in the same shape we see it today. Our county commission has already demonstrated that they can't manage the modest budget they currenty have. They can't fund their own schools or maintain a proper sized jail. Why on earth do they think we should trust them to look after the only actual functioning part of Coffee County that lies within Tullahoma. As for as "What Next?" If the county should go Metro and still can't balance a budget and provide essential services, do they then petition the state to allow them to consolidate with Rutherford county and hope that those residents will pay their bills for them.