My Weak Spot

The other day I chuckled when I read in the newspaper that a local Town Chairman stated that towns were the most efficient form of government. What are they the most efficient at?
Town governments can be found in rural areas because, by law, they govern areas not included within the city or village boundaries. But towns can be urbanized and provide services similar to cities, but generally they don’t.
A town’s most important responsibility is usually to provide road maintenance, often in cooperation with the county in which the town is located. Towns also may provide other services to their residents, such as garbage service, fire and police protection, and zoning. Most town services overlap and are primarily provided by the county or a close city. The majority of county revenues come from cities. This seems pretty efficient to me.
The main parks in the town are provided by the county and town residents couldn’t tell the difference between city parks and county parks. When’s the last time you talked to your town recreation director? Cities maintain their voter registration database and the county maintains the towns. The list goes on and on.
Ask your Town Supervisor what his policy development process is, what the town’s police powers are and how they apply due process? There are some very well run towns in the state, but most are barely above mob rule.
Towns in Wisconsin are the benefactors of government revenue design more then efficient. On a full measurement method considering services, level of service and revenue systems – cities and villages on a percentage basis will be more efficient and effective.