This is a new potential consolidation.

County Road Commissions Beware
They have been on and off the legislative chopping block for years, but each time nobody lowered the axe on the myriad of county road commissions around the state.

If Rep. Mark OUIMET (R-Scio Township), chair of the House Local, Intergovernmental and Regional Affairs Committee has his way, the axe will fall. He will not venture a guess on how many commissions will remain.

“I do favor a lower number,” he told the Off the Record crew this week.Â

While he has no inside skinny on what Gov. Rick SNYDER might propose in his Oct. 24 special message on infrastructure, Ouimet said he thinks the state may be divided into zones instead of individual county commissions. The zones could center around the major freeways in the state.

The Republican chair is also willing to look at reducing the number of drain commissioners or water resource commissioners, but he says no to getting rid of townships.

On a mission to consolidate other local services, Ouimet hopes to have a draft out by the end of the month.Â

He also reports he is getting some “push back” in the House GOP caucus, and especially from the Tea Party wing, when the issue of raising millages comes up to foster this combining of services. He explains one jurisdiction may have a millage to operate police and fire and another might not, and it would be unfair to combine one with the other. That could mean a new millage might be needed, and the Tea Party folks want no part of that.

Ouimet also serves on the House Transportation Committee and indicates he does support the Governor’s Detroit-Windsor bridge project, but he refused to be pinned down on the presumed need to raise new revenue for the roads.  The Snyder administration has ruled out a gas tax hike, but registration fee hikes are on the table.Â

Ouimet would like to see what the savings are from eliminating some road commissions before he ventured down the road of raising road money from other sources.

I wish the politicians in Washington would pay attention to what this man says.

Stop Coddling the Super-Rich – NYTimes.com.