Betty Hudson, a public service associate at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, was quoted in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story about city and county merger deals. Hudson said that after Athens and Clarke County merged, the government initially cost more to run, but then costs leveled off.
“You may have some savings if you had two managers or two directors of different departments,” said Hudson. “But generally, you’re not going to be cutting the amount of staff you have.”
In fact, the merger of two workforces can force government to raise the pay and benefits of one to match those of the other.