Small but Notable Government Consolidation in Kansas City
It is always dangerous to talk before you have all the facts, as a certain person sharing a beer today with two Bostonians has realized, but, dammit, if it’s good enough for him it’s good enough for me. I want to direct you to an example of government consolidation in Kansas City. According to the Star, the city’s independent ambulance service is being folded into city government. I am not here to talk about the silly use of consultants, although I certainly agree with this councilman — whose point applies to corporate America as well as to government:
“I still think we’ve got the expertise in-house,” Sharp said. “We use too many consultants.”
From what I can tell and what I have learned, this seems to be a good move in KC. MAST, a regional, independent government entity, is the nonprofit company that has formerly provided this service. There are many types of these regional entities in Missouri, and some of them certainly deserve to remain independent, like MSD in St. Louis. But MAST appears primarily to serve Kansas City and surrounding unincorporated areas, like Blue Summit. Hopefully in the areas outside of KC, fully private ambulance services will begin providing services.
But back to the consolidation issue. If the city can save money on overhead, et al, by bringing one government entity under the control of another, then this will be a good thing for taxpayers. There is no compelling reason to avoid this — the need for checks and balances from separate agencies doesn’t really apply here. Plus, most people, right or wrong, probably think ambulance service is a legitimate responsibility of government, so this is not another example of the government expanding its reach. It’s just one government consolidating with another; which is fine with me as long as it saves tax dollars.
I am totally open to being corrected on any of this by our KC readers, so fire away in the comment section, if you like.
This is giving into pressure from the fire fighters union. This will not save money. Kansas City can not manage trash collection or the water department. Try to make a complaint on their 311 service, you are put on hold, then asked to leave a message and they will get back to you at their convenience. Many other small cities in KC metro use MAST now they have to deal with KC city hall.
Comment by mastkc — July 31, 2009 @ 1:49 a.m.
I’m a bit surprised by your take on this David. The previous comment is entirely accurate. Indeed, this isn’t one govt. agency taking over another. MAST was a private, non-profit agency that was subsidized by the government. By all accounts, it was doing a great job providing service. Now all of the MAST employees will be brought in under costly city pension plans. If anything, there should have been efforts to reduce or eliminate the subsidy and let MAST stand totally on its own. This was not consolidation. It was a removal of potential private sector competition.
Comment by Jack Naudi — July 31, 2009 @ 8:15 a.m.
MAST KC is exactly right. Any cost-savings realized by consolidating services will be more than made up for by the outrageous cost of firefighter union pensions. Its a loser deal.
Comment by Patrick Tuohey — July 31, 2009 @ 9:33 a.m.
Thank you for all these comments. I am perfectly willing to admit I was wrong on this subject and only too happy to stand 100% corrected.
Comment by David Stokes — July 31, 2009 @ 10:23 a.m.
Let me ask you this: can you find evidence where government-run healthcare is superior to the private sector (or non-profit in the case of MAST)?
There’s a reason people are mad about the government takeover of healthcare. This isn’t a “public service” any more than a private hospital is a public service. We have private schools, private hospitals, hell we even have privately run DMV agencies in Missouri.
Why fight common sense?
Comment by Mike — September 1, 2009 @ 10:49 p.m.