Foxx touts city-county consolidation

On the night of his resounding re-election by 68 percent of voters, Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx used his victory speech to return, once again, to a goal that has so far eluded him.

Foxx wants to fully merge the governments of the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

The two already share a number of services, but Foxx wants what's known as full political consolidation - one manager, one mayor, one elected body of council members or commissioners.

"One of the first things I will do is push for city-county consolidation," Foxx said during his speech last week. "If we can't get the whole thing done, let's get functional consolidation (merging additional departments)."

Foxx is on a 10-day tour in China and wasn't available to speak about his second-term plans. But, in the past, he has spoken extensively about why he believes consolidation is important.

Foxx believes having one governmental body would save money. But the bigger issue, he has said, is that he believes it would allow for smarter budgeting decisions, making it easier for the community to set its priorities.

If there was one manager and one elected body, they would have more options to balance a budget, Foxx has said.

For instance, during the last two budget cycles, the city of Charlotte was relatively unscathed by the recession. The city had saved more money to pay for debt, and city functions like road resurfacing continued as planned.

Meanwhile, Mecklenburg County was in worse financial shape, due to state budget cuts and having less money set aside to pay for debt. As a result, it made sizable cuts to libraries, schools and social services.

Twice, Foxx has successfully argued for the city to fund what are traditionally county responsibilities - libraries and school police officers. He has said local governments should "stray outside their lanes" and shouldn't make budgeting decisions in "silos."

Several cities and counties nationwide have fully merged city and county governments, including Nashville, Tenn., and Jacksonville, Fla.

In Charlotte, the city handles 14 departments or functions for both the city and the county, including police, water and sewer, 311 and emergency management.

The county provides service for 10 areas, including schools, tax collection, elections and parks.

Foxx has said the first step towards political consolidation should be further blending the two governments by merging four services: government TV, human resources, Fire/MEDIC and permitting.

But any talk of consolidation will likely wait until after the Democratic National Convention next September. City Manager Curt Walton sent Foxx and council members a memo in October, saying his staff was too strapped preparing for the Democratic National Convention to study merging the four services.

County Manager Harry Jones is reluctant to move forward, telling county commissioners last year that he doesn't think merging the four services would be practical or save money.

The current City Council doesn't appear to be enthusiastic, either. They have not publicly questioned Foxx's goals, but they also haven't rallied around his plan.

But Tuesday's election ushered in four new council members - all Democrats - who could possibly be swayed by Foxx to get the ball rolling. Democrats will soon have a 9-2 council majority - the most lopsided margin for either party since the city went to districts in 1977.

Democrat John Autry, who won the District 5 race Tuesday, said consolidation is "worth looking at."

"Certainly when there are savings, it's worth seriously considering," said Autry, who is replacing Nancy Carter, who decided against running for re-election for the east Charlotte seat.

Autry cautioned that the council would have to be "mindful of unintended consequences."

When asked about moving toward one government, Autry was noncommittal, saying citizen input would be crucial.

Mecklenburg Commissioner Bill James, a Republican, predicted the idea would go nowhere. He said the issue comes periodically, but does not gain traction because "too many Democratic politicians would be thrown out of work." James was referring to Democratic majorities on the City Council and County Commission. With one elected body, some politicians could be without a seat - unless the new elected body was big enough to include all incumbents. James said he does not believe consolidation would save money.

Full political consolidation has been considered before. The last serious discussion was in 1996, when the Charlotte City Council backed out, voting against having a countywide vote on the issue.

Two Republicans joined with African-American Democrats to defeat that vote. The black council members worried that a single county elected body would make it difficult for minorities to be elected.