ABSTRACT

As noted in chapter 2 of this book, there have been only thirty-three successful consolidations in the United States. Many consolidations required multiple referenda attempts before an affirmative vote was obtained from the citizens. According to Rosenbaum and Kammerer (1974), successful consolidations are more likely when there is a crisis such as a scandal, or dissatisfaction with the local government’s response to an important problem. For example, the consolidation of the city of Athens and Clarke County, Georgia, was success­ ful on the fourth attempt, primarily due to dissatisfaction with the quality of governmental services (Selden and Campbell 2000; Lyons and Scheb 1998). Political and structural consolidation is a radical change, and such change is hard to achieve without a compelling need. Rosenbaum and Kammerer label this step of the consolidation process as the power deflation stage.