12 Solutions for Downsizing Norfolk County Government
1.) Terminate Salaries for Commissioners
The position I seek should be an unpaid position. The salaries of the three commissioners’ which totals over $100,000 should be eliminated immediately. Any stipends and reimbursement costs to the three commissioners’ should also be abolished and the county commissioner’s should serve without cost or financial expense to the citizens whose taxes fund county government.
2.) Get out of the golf business!
Norfolk County government should sell the 90-acre, 18-hole golf course located at the Wollaston Recreational Facility in Quincy. The fair market value for the real estate and business will generate between $5 million and $7 million. The city of Quincy would have the right-of-first-refusal to purchase the property. Should they refuse the opportunity to buy it, the town of Milton could exercise their option to make a bid. If Milton refuses, the state could opt to buy it. In the event none of these parties are interested, then Presidents Golf Course should be sold to a group of private investors, who must forever keep the property a recreational facility, although the land has much greater value than the above-suggested price. The proceeds from the sale should be distributed proportionately to the 28 cities and towns in Norfolk County.
3.) Get out of the court houses!
Effective immediately the Norfolk County Commissioners should terminate the arrangement that exists between county government and the Trial Courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They should relinquish ownership of the buildings and assign ownership to the Trial Courts. The court system has the personnel and funding and it is capable and able to maintain the seven court houses located throughout Norfolk County.
4.) Get out of the school business!
The Norfolk County Commissioners should immediately set up an independent advisory council whose sole purpose is to explore the seamless transfer of jurisdiction of the Norfolk County Agricultural School to the administrators who run the Blue Hill Regional School district. The Blue Hill Regional School committee is the logical successor to oversee the approximate $8.3 million budget and 400 students who attend the agricultural school, which averages an expensive $20,000 in per-pupil expenses annually.
5.) Get out of the retirement system!
The Office of the State Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts offers an effective retirement system for current and former employees of the Commonwealth. Every employee and former employee of the Norfolk County Retirement System should be assigned or transferred to the retirement system run by the State Treasurer’s office, without any loss of benefits or services. This seamless transfer of jurisdiction has been successfully implemented in the seven county governments that were dismantled by a law passed in 1996, and dissolved within the last eight years.
6.) Get out of Jail Free!
The Norfolk County Commissioners should not be administrators or have any connection with the Sheriff of Norfolk County and the Norfolk County Correctional Institution. The Sheriff of Norfolk County and the operation of the Norfolk County jail should be guided by and under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of Public Safety, as other correctional institutions are.
7.) Get out of the Registry of Deeds business!
The operation of the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds should be handled by the Office of the Secretary of State. Again, in the model program used when seven counties were dismantled, the important and lucrative functions at the Registry of Deeds are now under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State, without any loss of service to its customer base.
8.) Sell the County Administration Building!
When the process of transferring the essential functions of county government is successfully completed, the county administration building in Dedham should be sold. The town of Dedham would have the right-of-first-refusal. If the town does not wish to purchase the building, the state would have an opportunity, until subsequently a private sector business might opt to buy it. The proceeds from the sale, which could fetch between $1 million and $2 million, should be equitably distributed to the 28 cities and towns in the county.
9.) Terminate/Reorganize Positions
The commissioners should immediately terminate the following two Norfolk County positions: The Coordinator/Director and the Personnel Manager. Combined these two positions cost the taxpayer over $170,000 in salary and benefits. The menial dutes of these two positions can be assigned to the County Director position which accounts for $100,000 in salary alone. The commissioners should also consider combining some of the administrative tasks from the commissioner’s office with those employees performing the same function in the county treasurer’s office. This will save money, and is a common practice in the private sector.
10.) Order Study on Duplicity of Engineering Services
The commissioners should order a survey be conducted to determine how many of the 28 cities and towns in Norfolk County maintain their own traffic and engineering departments. It is fiscally prudent for some local town halls to hire engineers on a per-diem basis than it is to pay a hefty annual county tax when these services are already paid for by taxpayers. For instance, the town of Wellesley, with a population of about 26,000, pays an annual county tax in excess of $400,000 yet the town receives no justifiable services from county government. Wellesley town hall has its own engineering and traffic departments.
11.) Review Expense Policy
The commissioners should review the county policy that addresses reimbursable expenses for all non-union county employees, including the commissioner’s reimbursement and travel expenses budget. A freeze on all travel should be implemented until a new policy is adequately defined. This should apply to all county employees who travel within the county and outside the county as well.
12.) Make Advisory Board Bi-Partisan
The commissioners should consider changing the composition of the Norfolk County Advisory Board. The 28 members are nearly all registered Democrats from their respective towns. This is not a fair and equitable system, since nearly all 28 members are Democrat and political activists in their respective towns. The commissioners should explore offering a quota system with an equal number of Republicans and Democrats and Independents serving on the Board.
