It seems like the state could save some money by consolidating some of these counties. I mean seriously a county where less than 2000 people live??? That's a gas station and a diner not a county.
It looks like you're talking about the 3 counties in north central oregon: Wheeler, Gilham, and Sherman.
There was also a proposal to make a new Willamette county by merging multinomah, clackamas and washington counties. Perhaps we should just have like 10 big counties? I doubt there is much savings from doing that, however so leaving things as is probably is the financially prudent option
I've thought a lot about what econoline mentioned, or at least a version of it. Non-dense areas seem to be, largely, inefficient. Green Metropolis by David Owen and other books like it make this point again and again. This is not a new observation by any means.
But, wow, does it bother me how uneconomical not-cities tend to be. Seriously- this sticks in my craw, as they say, especially since the denizens of low-density areas are most likely to bitch about budgets.
Fun fact: Wasco, Sherman and Gilliam counties combined their health departments into a single North Central Public Health District. I would imagine other government agencies are shared as well. They're not exactly merging counties but they merged functions.
There was also a proposal to make a new Willamette county by merging multinomah, clackamas and washington counties. Perhaps we should just have like 10 big counties? I doubt there is much savings from doing that, however so leaving things as is probably is the financially prudent option
I've thought a lot about what econoline mentioned, or at least a version of it. Non-dense areas seem to be, largely, inefficient. Green Metropolis by David Owen and other books like it make this point again and again. This is not a new observation by any means.
But, wow, does it bother me how uneconomical not-cities tend to be. Seriously- this sticks in my craw, as they say, especially since the denizens of low-density areas are most likely to bitch about budgets.