Twenty-one years ago, Hamilton County voters narrowly defeated a ballot measure that would have bestowed Home Rule authority to county government. The defeat, it was learned too late, apparently occurred because a third of the voters – the total turnout was just 53,568 – confused the misplaced referendum language as part of the instructions at the top and couldn’t find the referendum on the ballot.
That was a grave mistake. Had the referendum passed, it would have granted county government the ability to respond to the rising public needs of our urbanizing county by adopting ordinances, regulations and public services like those allowed to the county’s 10 municipalities under their founding charters. But because the referendum failed, county government still must rely on the county’s legislative delegation to push private acts through the Legislature to empower the county to do just a smidgen of the things it needs to cope with growth.
The balky, part-time Legislature doesn’t work well for county governments. It’s too tedious and takes too long to get state legislators to respond to county needs. Worse, many lawmakers want to keep county governments in a perpetual supplicant status.
Limited power vs Home Rule
Because it lacks municipal-style authority, however, county government can’t create and enforce the sanitation, safety, code and regulatory systems it needs to modernize its operations and to protect and advance the public interest. It can’t even hang a traffic light without state permission. It can’t organize garbage service, or create ordinances to abate public nuisances, to control signs, to set certain standards for buildings, to provide needed public services and codes.