Tomorrow Lancaster County voters will decide whether or not to break out from under Harrisburg’s total control of our county government structure. Everyone will have the opportunity to vote either yes or no to a referendum question on the back of the ballot. (Here’s a sample ballot.)

I will be voting “yes.” I encourage you to vote yes—but most of all, I encourage you to think and decide for yourself.

Here are the reasons I will be voting YES for a Lancaster County Home Rule Charter.

1. For my neighbor’s child: It controls debt.

At left, take a look at Lancaster County’s debt over the past 12 years. It’s skyrocketing. Our county debt has exploded more than 500% in the last seven years. My good friends who live down the street from me are expecting a baby around Christmas. If we keep racking up debt like this, by the time he’s a young man the taxes we pay won’t cover anything except paying interest on our county debt.

That means Lancaster County will be a worse place than it is today. Yes, we have grown at a responsible, measured pace as a community. But we have also paid for a lot of projects by incurring debt. The Home Rule Charter will allow us citizens to stop the runaway debt.

The state government imposes a cap on the amount of debt that counties can incur at “four hundred percent of its borrowing base” (Local Government Unit Debt Act). Right now we are at 62% of that debt limit. The Home Rule Charter allows the citizens to have a ballot referendum to stop the addition of any debt above 80% of that limit.

2. For My Community: It controls spending
Taxes should be kept as low as possible. The county government has raised taxes by more than 7% over each of the past three years. The home rule charter requires a super-majority of the board of commissioners (4 out of 5) in order to pass a tax increase of 4% or more. (Inflation adjustments are typically under 3%.) If they opt to raise taxes by 7% or more, we citizens can stop it via a ballot referendum.

Again, debt is controlled as well as taxes. The commissioners will not be able to fund projects through debt rather than taxes, because we citizens can exercise our ability to stop both. That means our government will be forced into long-term sustainability (a good thing).

3. Because Harrisburg Is Whack
Dennis Stuckey became a county commissioner in January of this year. When he did so, he vacated his role as county controller—essentially the county’s fiscal watchdog. The position still has not been filled, because we are waiting for Governor Rendell to appoint a replacement.

Why are we waiting for the governor to appoint a replacement controller? Because without home rule we are at the mercy of the state for such things. Make no mistake about it: In very key ways, we do not currently control our own county government. Harrisburg does. And Harrisburg is whack. The state government is in need of major overhaul. We should trust ourselves over bureaucrats in Harrisburg.

4. Other Reasons

• The Lancaster County Home Rule Charter requires the leaders of the dozens of municipalities within our county to get together once a year and talk to each other, enhancing cooperation between my city and your township, your township and the nearby borough, etc.
• One county commissioner per 100,000 people is totally reasonable. Right now we have 3 commissioners for half a million people. The Home Rule Charter gives us 5.
• Part-time commissioners are better than full-time. They can focus on long-term strategy and listen to real people. Or, if they are OK with $55,000 a year, they can do it full-time.
• Commissioners shouldn’t be professional politicians. The Home Rule Charter caps terms of office at 8 years. This makes sure we have citizen-leaders.
• Under the Home Rule Charter, the controller has to be a CPA or have a degree in finance or accounting. The coroner has to be a licensed physician. This makes sense, but isn’t currently required.
• The commissioners have to focus on the long term when drafting budgets, and the budget process has to be open for citizen review and input. Right now the process of developing a budget can take place in secret, and the budget can be available for citizen review only a very short period of time before being adopted. That’s bad for our county.
• We currently elect Jury Commissioners, whose jobs have been replaced by computers. This charter eliminates the spending waste of paying for these positions. (We cannot remove these positions without a home rule charter.)
• The three roles of prothonotary, clerk of courts, and register of wills is combined into a single elected position: the clerk of courts. That’s smaller, more efficient government.
• The Government Study Commission, a nonpartisan group elected in November 2006, has done an outstanding job of first listening to a ton of input and then writing a fair charter. They have served our county well.

5. Most Importantly: We can change things!
Enacting a home rule charter is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, because of a waiting period required by law and because of the immense work involved. We will not simply be able to wait for another, better charter to come around on our ballots.

Yes, this Home Rule Charter is imperfect, but it is good. It is a deeply American act of self-governance. We can tweak it over time. If something doesn’t work well, we can change it. Without this charter, however, we cannot change a single thing in our county government structure. Not one thing. With this charter, though, we’re in control.

It’s still not to late to read the charter (pdf) for yourself. There is no “no” vote on this issue. You are either voting for the Lancaster County Home Rule Charter (28 pages) or for the existing state-mandated, one-size-fits-all Pennsylvania County Code (400+ pages). Please join me in voting “yes” tomorrow.