Two candidates for the Norfolk County Commission are challenging the way county government spends money and serves cities and towns, with one hoping to dissolve the institution altogether.
Independent Michael Walsh and Republican Thomas Gorman are vying against incumbent Democrats John M. Gillis of Quincy and Francis W. O'Brien of Dedham for two of the three commissioner seats this November.
Gorman, a Dedham Town Meeting member who lost his bid to unseat the third commissioner, Peter H. Collins, by more than 30 percent in 2006, is running again on a platform of dissolving county government.
"I was fairly successful two years ago about getting my message out to shine a light on what goes on in county government and how useless it is," said Gorman, a real estate agent. "So to that extent I achieved a step toward eventually abolishing the executive branch of county government."
And while Walsh, a Westwood attorney and first-time political candidate, agrees that the county is wasting some of its resources, if elected, he hopes to improve services and financial planning.
"People just feel sometimes that county government is basically just taking up a lot of money, and the resources are not really being used well," he said. "I would like to change that. I would like people to learn more about county government, and work with towns to pool resources.
"Does every town need a ladder truck?," he said. "Maybe, but for the one or two times a year that it's necessary, the town could save some money."
Incumbent Commissioners O'Brien and Gillis could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The Norfolk County government has a $34 million proposed fiscal 2009 budget, which is funded mostly by state reimbursements, a portion of the excise tax and fees on deed transactions, and a county tax that cities and towns pay based on their property taxes.
The county oversees the sheriff's office and jail, the county courthouses, which are owned by the county but funded and run by the state, Presidents Golf Course in Quincy, the Agricultural High School in Walpole and the Registry of Deeds.
Among its functions, the Norfolk County government also helps its 28 cities and towns with planning and traffic studies, resource sharing and building regional coalitions, said county Director Dan Matthews.
Norfolk County is one of six counties that were able to keep their governments financially viable while nine others around the state dissolved in the 1990s.
