Louisville Metro Merger: A Success Story

"Metropolitan government merger ideas are bubbling up from Buffalo to Kansas City to Fresno. Small wonder then that Louisville, Ky., its city and county combined last year after decades of foiled consolidation bids, has suddenly emerged as the prime national laboratory of what 21st-century-style government merger can portend...Bottom line: A metropolitan merger is not easy -- by any stretch of the imagination. But every signal so far is that the payoff, in a more competitive, recognized, well-run metropolitan area, can be substantial."