‘Local control’ of government is a hallowed idea in Wisconsin. Here’s what we can do to give it real meaning again. – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Michael R. Ford| Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Local control is a foundational governing concept in Wisconsin. Our system of dual federalism, in which the state is responsible for issues of statewide concern and local government is responsible for issues of local concern, is designed to place decision-making authority at the level of government closest to the people impacted by those decisions.

In theory, empowering local government increases the legitimacy and effectiveness of government, while ensuring residents can hold local officials accountable for their performance.

Butas a new report from the Whitburn Center for Governance and Policy Research demonstrates, local control is a contested concept weaponized for political purposes as opposed to a tool for good government in Wisconsin.

We surveyed 288 local government leaders to better understand the state of local control in Wisconsin. Tellingly, in response to an open-ended question on the meaning of local control, local officials told us, It sounds great but is not realistic because politicians use it to persuade constituents that they are voting the right way, that Legislators are more than willing to say they are for local control but it really means nothing to them, and that Local control is a moving target based on the hot regulatory items of the day.

The general pessimism around local control is not surprising given the steady erosion of local authority over key policy areas.

A 2018 memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, for example, identified more than 100 state legislative changes between 2011 and 2018 that limited local government autonomy in areas such as land use and zoning, local revenue options, transportationand K-12 education. Our survey results indicate that self-identified conservatives are most likely to perceive an imbalance between state and local authority, but overall dissatisfaction with the state-local balance of power transcended ideology. In addition, there is widespread belief among local officials that their colleagues at the state level do not share their definition of local control.

Why does the ambiguity around local control matter? Simply, disagreement on the meaning of local control hampers effectiveness. Without agreement, there can be no coordination. When state and local government officials disagree on where their authority stops and starts it becomes more difficult to meet the needs of Wisconsinites.

Consider the government response to COVID-19. Our survey results revealed largescale confusion about who was responsible for responding to different aspects of the pandemic. As one respondent put it, Everyone is doing something different. There is no uniformity like there is in neighboring states. The issue was not about local vs. state authority, but rather the lack of understanding of where decision-making authority resided. The result was confusion, wasted energyand the politicization of basic policy responses to the pandemic.

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So what can be done to restore meaning to local control in Wisconsin?

Foremost, local officials need to coalesce around a common definition of local control. City managers and mayors need to understand their authority in order to provide services, and elected officials must understand local powers to provide direction to city staff. That can be accomplished through each municipalitys strategic planning process, and communicated to the public via the annual local budget.

As our survey shows, the specific definition of local control is less important than the ability for those involved in governing to agree on a common definition. There will still be disagreement over where authority over specific policy areas should lie, but local government officials will, at the very least, eliminate ambiguity that hampers government performance.

The troubled state of local control in Wisconsin is just one example of the politicization of our democracys most basic foundational elements. Federalism has proved to be a powerful tool for enabling good government despite our ideological divisions. But, when weaponized for political purposes, it loses itsmeaning and erodes trust in our government. While there will always be tension between state and local authority, local governments can work to eliminate role ambiguity and ultimately restore meaning to local control in Wisconsin.

Michael Ford is the director of the Whitburn Center for Governance and Policy Research at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He also serves as an associate professor of Public Administration, and an elected member of the Oshkosh Common Council.

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'Local control' of government is a hallowed idea in Wisconsin. Here's what we can do to give it real meaning again. - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel