Metro means independence

(12 Votes)

Written by TSI Editorial Board | 06 July 2010

In the spirit of this, our nation’s most hallowed celebration, we should make a pledge in our own corner of the world to honor the very fabric of freedom that makes America what it is – independence.
In Coffee County we are bound by a most cruel and tyrannical dictator. One that undermines the best of cooperative efforts and drags us into a self-perpetuating quagmire of budget deficits, inter-governmental lawsuits and a reputation of leaving industrial and business prospects and the head-scratching that follows when they are told that Coffee County has not one, not two, but three governments within our corporate borders. The unholy trinity of Manchester, Tullahoma and Coffee County governments is construct of a slavery to a notion that no longer makes sense.
The rivalry that exists between Tullahoma and "the rest of the county" extends beyond the playing fields of competitive high schools. It has leant itself to suspicion and ultimately litigation over busing rural students and a sizable crumb of the shared sales tax rate.
As all three entities face tightening budgets and lower tax collections, it is becoming very apparent to some on the Coffee County Commission that paying for three school systems, three administrative, police, waste collection and road services is simply untenable.
We at The Saturday Independent for years have encouraged a move to consolidate our government operations. It makes too much sense – especially in the face of false fears such as loss of community identity, eroded schools and the ultimate loss – control.
Coffee County faces a longterm shortfalll in its budgets for years to come. Cities has similar issues.
It’s time to grow up and play big boys and girls in an ever-shrinking sandbox.

Comments (2)

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.

well taken