While in Butler to present $5.5 million for four economic development projects in the county, Gov. Ed Rendell discussed a couple of other issues that should not be regarded lightly by people here.

The issue of whether the state will someday assess municipalities without police departments for state police coverage is not something to be pooh-poohed as beyond reason. It could happen not too many years hence, despite Rendell's assurance that he does not plan to implement a plan of that kind anytime soon.

If and when it happens, depending upon the guidelines put in place, municipalities targeted for the assessment could face a hefty outlay requiring tax increases. Or, in some places, it might be cheaper to set up police departments of their own.

"It's going to be studied along with the consolidation issue," Rendell said, reacting to a news report that the governor was seriously considering a plan to charge larger municipalities a per-capita fee for state police protection.

The governor is a strong proponent of municipal and school district consolidation, claiming that smaller municipalities and school districts are less cost-effective than larger ones. School district consolidations 30 or 40 years ago proved that.

But municipal consolidations have been a much more thorny issue, with only a small number of consolidations having been achieved across the state. Communities have balked at consolidation because of the desire to retain their own identities as well as avoid being saddled with problems of other municipalities joining in the consolidations.

It's unlikely that Butler Township residents ever would approve a consolidation with the City of Butler as long as the city remains mired in financial crisis, and continues being dogged by serious infrastructure deterioration. Nevertheless, Rendell is correct that regionalizing municipal governments is a way to avoid costly duplication of services and to slash expenses.

It will be interesting to see what recommendations the study planned by Rendell will produce, especially regarding the more immediate issue of municipal assessments for state police service, since 36 Butler County municipalities rely on the state police for protection.

"We're going to examine questions like why a city like Butler or Greensburg pays a significant hunk of their budget for a professional police force and yet some townships that have a much stronger tax base get free policing from the state," he said.

Rendell says the number of municipalities and school districts put the commonwealth at an economic disadvantage with other states. However, that fact alone isn't going to change people's current rock-solid attitudes against change.

The pay-for-state-police-protection issue could be one tool for starting to chip away at the unbending attitudes that have prevailed for so long. Time will tell.

- J.R.K.