Ohio isn't what it was 50 years ago. Its political and economic power might have faded, and state and local governments now find themselves in financial crises.

So there might not be a better time for local governments to study merging to eliminate duplicate services and cut costs.

A 15-member commission met for the first time Downtown yesterday to set a course to discuss local government over the next 18 months and to study ways to save taxpayers money.

As part of that, Ohio State's John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy could undertake an ambitious study to calculate the costs of local government across Ohio. That's what Larry Wolpert of Hilliard, a commission member, wants to do.

Commission members will determine the scope and focus of the study.

Some on the commission want to streamline local government and make it more efficient so Ohio can compete better.

"Difficult economic times are the best time to look at this," said Larry Flowers, the former Republican state representative from Canal Winchester who co-sponsored legislation last year to create the commission. Wolpert, also a former Republican state representative, left office at the end of the year because of term limits. He was the other sponsor.

Others, such as Michael Cochran, executive director of the Ohio Township Association, question the notion that regionalism is better. He thinks small jurisdictions are more accountable to their residents, and fears villages, townships and smaller school districts could be targets for consolidation.

"No one's complaining about local government," he said.

Ohio has 1,308 townships, 939 cities and villages, more than 600 school districts, 88 counties and 900 other taxing districts for libraries, park systems and other services.

Some say that is too many and puts Ohio at a disadvantage with other states, while various local governments here hammer away with property taxes or sales taxes or income taxes.

"It makes us compete against each other," said Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Foley, a commission member.

"How do we get the state to help us to be more regional?" he said.

"Fifty years ago, Ohio was a very wealthy state," Wolpert said. Now that it isn't as rich, he said, taxpayers can't afford so many layers of government.

In the mid-1950s, Ohio was ahead of the national average for income. By 2006, Ohio was 8 percent below the national average for income, according to an Ohio State University report on rural-urban interdependence prepared for the Brookings Institution.

That report concludes that Ohio's local governments should be streamlined, and in some cases eliminated, while sharing tax revenue so entire regions can benefit. That provides services on a more efficient scale, said Mark Partridge, a rural-urban policy professor at Ohio State who is co-author of the study.

For example, it makes no sense when five fire departments send five trucks to the same intersection because the fire districts share boundaries, said Tim Downing, a Cleveland lawyer and a member of the commission.

Flowers, a former Madison Township fire chief, said it makes sense for communities to share a dispatching center. That's what fire departments in Whitehall and Plain, Jefferson, Mifflin, Truro and Violet townships do, he said.

And some school districts share a treasurer, said Fred Pausch, director of legislative services for the Ohio School Board Association.

The commission must issue a report for state leaders by July 1, 2010.

"At the end of this thing, the mission is to drive economic development at the local level," Foley said.

Partridge is skeptical much will come from the effort.

"There are people wedded to keeping things the way they are," he said.

mferenchik@dispatch.com