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December 16, 2004
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Onorato Calls Row Office Reduction Vote 'Historic'

Onorato calls row office reduction vote 'historic'

Thursday, December 16, 2004
By Jeffrey Cohan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato approved a referendum yesterday giving voters a chance to eliminate six of the county's 10 elected row offices.

Describing the May 17 referendum as "significant reform," Onorato said, "I'm very excited about this. People recognize that this is a historic day."

The referendum bill that Onorato signed yesterday was a compromise between the chief executive and the Democratic-controlled County Council.

Onorato had proposed a 10-to-two reduction that would have spared only the district attorney and controller. But fellow Democrats on the council insisted that the sheriff and treasurer remain elected offices, as well.

The chief executive bristled yesterday at the suggestion -- put forward last week by his predecessor, Jim Roddey, among others -- that the 10-to-four referendum is watered-down.

"[Ten-to-four] is a significant change," Onorato said. "I'll [match] that record against the prior administration any day of the week."

If voters pass the referendum, the offices of jury commissioner and coroner would be eliminated in 2006, while the office of the clerk of courts, prothonotary, register of wills and recorder of deeds would be eliminated in 2008.

The consolidation would be staggered so that current office-holders could complete their terms.

The proposed consolidation of row offices continues a radical restructuring of Allegheny County government that started with the switch to home rule in 2000.

Row office consolidation has been a front-burner and intensely partisan issue.

During Roddey's four-year term, council Democrats resisted consolidation, protecting a party stronghold. Elected Democrats occupy all 10 row offices.

Onorato, though, altered the political equation when he embraced the Republicans' 10-to-two proposal.

Vince Gastgeb, chairman of council's Republican caucus, gave Onorato credit for squeezing a row office referendum out of the Democratic-controlled council.

"Without his push, there would be nothing on the ballot in May," said Gastgeb, of Bethel Park.

Row office consolidation has been touted as a cost-saving measure. As eliminated row offices are folded into the executive branch of the government, they will no longer need their own human resources bureaucracies and highly paid solicitors.

"I guarantee you there will be cost savings," Onorato said. "But I don't want to try and guess [how much] those savings will be yet."

In the 2005 budget, the county has allocated $47 million to operate the 10 row offices. The six targeted for elimination would spend $16 million, just one-third of the overall total.

And because the functions of the six row offices would still need to be performed, the savings from consolidating them with the executive branch would amount to a fraction of that $16 million.

But the benefits of row office consolidation are not merely fiscal, Onorato said.

"There's an image issue here," he said. "We've got to convince the residents of Allegheny County and southwestern Pennsylvania that we are capable of change.

"Today, we sent that signal loud and clear. We are going to change the governance of this region. We're going to make it more efficient and more competitive so we have an environment that [makes] companies want to be here and expand here."

Onorato wasn't the only one yesterday who tried to draw a link between row office consolidation and prosperity.

"Any time you gain efficiencies, pay less taxes, have more efficient government, it's going to make us more competitive to locate businesses and more competitive to keep our residents in Allegheny County," said Barbara McNees, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.

Onorato predicted yesterday that the referendum will pass with "overwhelming support."

But it won't have the support of the chairman of the Allegheny County Democratic Party, Tom Flaherty.

He said the vast majority of Democratic committee members share his disdain for row office consolidation.

"They see it, and rationally so, as a weakening of the Democratic Party," he said. "The row offices have always been held by Democrats and would probably continue to be held by Democrats. That's why all the Republicans are for [consolidation].

"There are certain truisms I live by and one of them is, 'If Republicans are all for it, it isn't good for Democrats.' "

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