Kansas continues to lose jobs in the private sector as the number of government employees grows. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Kansas lost another 10,500 private sector jobs in April but added 800 state and local government jobs.

Over the past 12 months Kansas added 2,300 local and 100 state government jobs; during the same period the state lost 26,500 private sector jobs.  BLS includes public school administrators in local government totals. Teachers are included in private sector totals.

Government jobs do put people to work but salaries, benefits and other costs of government employees comes from higher taxes assessed on individuals and businesses and add to the economic burden of all taxpayers.

Local government inefficiency

According to 2008 BLS statistics, Kansas ranks 28th in the U.S. for the number of state government employees per resident, with 204 employees for each 10,000 residents; the median for all states is 205.5.

The bigger burden on Kansas taxpayers comes from the number of local government employees. Kansas had 674 local government employees per 10,000 residents, the third highest in the U.S. The median for all states is 493.5.

Local government employment is also growing faster than at the state level . State employment increased 3.5 percent from 2003 to 2008, whereas Local government employment increased 6.9 percent.

Kansas has 2,084 general purpose governments (county, municipal and township) according to the U.S Census Bureau. Many serve only a few hundred constituents or have layers of overlapping jurisdiction.   With a population of 2.8 million residents, that is just 1,332 residents per general purpose government in Kansas. The national average is 7,725 residents per government; on that basis, Kansas has nearly six times the national average of general purpose governments.  Only two states, North and South Dakota, are less efficient than Kansas.

Government efficiency may be a challenge for large, rural states, but not an insurmountable one. Idaho, with 82,747 square miles and only 1.5 million residents, has 6,145 residents per general-purpose government. Utah is very close to Kansas in terms of population and area with 2,645,330  residents and 82,144 square miles, but has 9,761 residents per general-purpose government. It’s not a geography or population issue, it’s the number of governments; Kansas has 2,084 compared to 244 in Idaho and 271 in Utah.

Consolidation and shared services are options

In 2006 Greeley County had 1,331 residents and 205 of them worked in government or government services. A 2007 vote approved consolidation of county and city of Tribune governments. Greeley County has the smallest population of any Kansas county and the second-lowest population density in the state.

Wyandotte County, population 154,000, has the second highest population density in the state, and a consolidated city-county government with Kansas City, Kansas.

New York State is in the process of implementing recommendations of a state-wide audit and evaluation of local government efficiency and competitiveness. The report recommends local governments: consolidate or share services including property assessment, tax collection, emergency dispatch, jails, courts; ease procedures for consolidation; reclassify some cities, towns and villages and reconsider powers for each class; offer efficiency grants based on performance.

Pete Brungardt, state senator from Salina, isn’t surprised by the growing number of government jobs and says Kansas has too many overlapping jurisdictions. “What we have to do is allow people in local government some ability to make a more efficient plan.” In March Brungardt helped the senate pass a bill setting procedures for local government consolidation.

Others are also interested in consolidation.  State Senator Chris Steineger of Wyandotte County proposed legislation that would consolidate Kansas’ 105 counties into 13 regional governments.  Representatives of the League of Kansas Municipalities and the Kansas Association of Counties say their organizations have supported efforts to improve opportunities for government consolidation.

Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives Mike O’Neal is in favor of consolidating school district administrators and making it easier for units of local government to consolidate services. He anticipates significant savings, perhaps as much as $1 billion statewide, from effective consolidation and sharing of services by local governments.

No legislation has been proposed or passed in the house favoring consolidation and Brungardt isn’t aware of any coordinated effort by both houses of the Kansas legislature to encourage streamlining local government. He noted in a recent interview that there’s been little support in the House for consolidation. “Everybody likes what effects them.”

Kansas already has one of the highest tax burdens in the region and adding more government employees only makes it worse, especially when there are fewer working Kansans to pay the bill.