Fink, Howard P.

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SYMPOSIUM: INTRODUCTION-CONSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS OF OHIO LOCAL GOVERNMENTHOWARD P. FINK*It is particularly timely and appropriate that the Law Journal publishthis symposium on the relationship of the Ohio constitution to the prob-lems faced by local governments. This is the third symposium of its kindthat has appeared in this Journal in the past twenty-four years-Volume 9,No. 1 in 1948, and Volume 21, No. 3 in 1960 were its predecessors. Theseminal quality of the first symposium was well described in the forewardto the second:In 1948,... the OHio STATE LAw JouRNAL made a significant contribu-tion to Ohio municipal law. The unique Ohio constitutional "home-rule"provisions had in great measure lain fallow for 35 years. A comprehen-sive review of their theory and operation in that issue brought these pro-visions forcibly to the attention of the bar and the judiciary. The sub-stantial increase in judicial action involving home-rule attests to the impactof that symposium.'A look at the 1948 symposium attests to the accuracy of the later character-ization-in it, Professor Harvey Walker described the historical back-ground to the adoption of the constitution of 1912; Dean Jefferson B.Fordham presented his pioneering article on home rule in Ohio; ProfessorC. Emory Glander contributed his study of municipal taxation in Ohioand Professor Murray Seasongood showed how one Ohio city, Cincinnati,had been affected by home rule.The second symposium was equally important to any student of Ohiolocal government law. Once again Dean Fordham led the way with apaper illuminating the dilemmas of decision-making in local government;Professor Daniel R. Mandelker explored municipal incorporation and an-nexation as possible solutions to metropolitan problems; Judge John J.Duffey discussed local self-government as it affected non-charter munici-palities; Mr. Henry J. Crawford described restraints on municipal indebt-edness in Ohio; Professor Glander returned with a study of state pre-emption of municipal excise and income taxes under Ohio home rule; JudgeAlba L. Whiteside gave a critique on municipal annexation in Ohio; Mr.James W. Farrell, Jr. discussed municipal public utility powers; and Mr.* Member of the Ohio Bar, Professor of Law, The Ohio State University College of Law.121 OHmo ST. L.J. 272-73 (1960). Parenthetically, that 1948 issue was the first to bepublished under the title of the "Ohio State Law Journal" and under law school sponsorship;it was brought to life following the hiatus in publishing a journal at the College of Law causedby World War Two. See Dean Fordham's observations at 9 OHIo ST. 14. 119.The strong interest which the Journal has continued to show in Ohio local government isno doubt a tribute to the work he began here.LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYMPOSIUMWilliam W. Stanhope described the role of assessments in municipal fis-cal policy in Ohio.Once again, the current symposium updates the Ohio local governmentcase law and lays the foundation for future developments. It continuesa publishing tradition of which the Journal can well be proud. Takentogether, these three symposia provide the best introduction to local gov-ernment law in Ohio, and demonstrate the tortuous course the interpreta-tion of the constitution of 1912 has taken.The organization of the conference on which the papers in the currentsymposium are based was most immediately prompted by the appointmentof the Ohio Constitutional Revision Commission, charged with the re-sponsibility to analyze experience under the Ohio constitution and to makesuggestions for revisions.?The need for such a review is manifest. A perusal of the articles inthe three symposia spaced over twenty-four years shows that the basic prob-lems remain. As Mr. Gotherman demonstrates, the Ohio Supreme Courthas yet to devise a wholly consistent theory of home rule. Statutory lawplaces significant barriers to area-wide government. When special districtsare created to deal with a problem, this adds to the staggering plethora ofgovernmental units groping with local government problems. And asMessrs. Desmond and Sefcovic show, the overlay of an additional govern-mental unit on the territory of an incorporated municipality may compli-cate the financial health of the municipality-by "using up" some of thepower to borrow without a vote of residents which is imposed by presentconstitutional provisions on territory rather than governmental units.As Professor Simmons describes, the present structural forms allow,even encourage, the suburban incorporated city or village to refuse to sharethe burden of social services needed by the poor. Through restrictive zon-ing practices, building codes, and similar devices, the poor are kept out,while the central cities, their tax base eroding, their physical structures de-caying, must meet the skyrocketing costs with precious little help fromtheir neighbors.But the situation is not without hope. Dean Fordham takes us throughthe constitutional provisions which might be considered for change. Andthe changes he suggests would undoubtedly help-an increased relianceon the legislature as the basic policy-maker, tackling problems that arecommon to many localities, providing for alternative modes of govern-mental structure and for increased home rule in governmental units havingwider territorial jurisdiction.Mr. Gotherman shows that the home rule clause, even as presentlyfound in the Ohio constitution, is not a barrier to a vast restructuring of2 Sponsoring the Conference were the Commission, the College of Law and the Ohio Mu-nicipal league.574 OHIO STATE LAW JOURNALlocal governmental units. I join him in the belief that there is no consti-tutional right, under the federal or the Ohio constitutions, to a particularform of local government. The choice, so long as it is equitably applied,is the legislature's. Messrs. Desmond and Sefcovic demonstrate that somesimple changes in constitutional and statutory law would enable units oflocal government to cope with debt without overreliance on the ballot-box-a course which Dean Fordham also advocates.And so, as a summing up of the past, a picture of the present, and sug-gestions for the future, this symposium, together with its predecessors, isvaluable indeed.

Introduction--Constitutional Aspects of Ohio Local Government

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Introduction--Constitutional Aspects of Ohio Local Government

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