The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

All too frequently we elect candidates who promise to cut the cost of government by eliminating waste. All too frequently these candidates change their tune when they become officeholders and are subjected to the pleas of various special interest groups. That’s why it’s a pleasure to see a government board that actually does reduce its expenses and save money on taxes. I’m talking about the Johnson County Board of Services.

The Johnson County Board of Services is appointed by the county commission and is responsible for providing certain services to the developmentally disabled, primarily a group home and a sheltered workshop. This includes operating a fleet of vehicles to bring workers in from across the county. A number of years ago a previous board convinced the voters to double the levy for these services. Management of the sheltered workshop was under a non-profit corporation, Industrial Service Contractors, Inc., and staff & management services were provided by another non-profit, ADD. The boards of these non-profits were interlinked, Enron-like.

However, the County Commission gradually replaced these board members with new ones who questioned how the tax money was being spent. For a period of time there was considerable resistance by ISCi and ADD to providing the financial information needed for proper management and accountability to the taxpayers. This resistance culminated on July 1, 2003, when ISCi walked off the job, possibly thinking that the JCBS would fail to deliver the services and would crawl back giving them a blank check. It didn’t work.

The JCBS found another way to deliver the services using a different contractor to manage the workshop and hiring their own director to provide overall management services. After a year of their own operation, the JCBS found that the need for additional funds had been greatly overstated and voted to cut their property tax levy in half.

While 6 cents per $100 valuation isn’t a lot of savings for most of us, we should all appreciate the Johnson County Board of Services effort to reduce the cost of their sliver of government – and hope others do the same.