Condon residents unhappy with Missoula County government should consider the real fact Lake County would probably reject their offer to join that county. It would be a far reach for Lake County to offer the required fire, road and other emergency services.It has plenty of problems of its own. I know I now reside in both Missoula and Lake Counties. Because the Tribal government does not pay its full share for government services it enjoys and it recently took the Kerr Dam out of the Lake County tax base, the county government is strapped.
A far better alternative for those who live in the Seeley-Swan Valleys would be to pursue a combined city-county government. Here’s why. A consolidated government can eliminate a lot of duplication — one fire, one police, one road department, as examples. Also, it would distribute political power more evenly between the urban and rural parts of the county.
Typically, in a consolidated city-county government, the area is divided into pie-shaped portions with equal amounts of rural-urban population. Butte-Silver Bow, for example, is a consolidated city-county government divided in this manner and it offers government services for far less than any other urban county in the state.
We all want less and better government. This move would be a move in that direction.
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