Merging the city and county 911 call centers should be the perfect model for government consolidation. The dispatchers do the same kind of work with the same kind of equipment and work in the same space, separated only by a glass wall. What could be more logical than combining them?

Instead, the interminable effort at 911 consolidation will illustrate to many people the apparent inability of city and county officials to get along, let alone do anything as constructive as cooperating.

This time around, a merger plan seems to have been worked out, with a joint 911 operation to be under the control of a city-county board, but the support of two of the three county commissioners now seems in doubt in the face of Sheriff Ken Fries' vehement opposition. How the commission will vote Friday is anybody's guess.

There are two main reasons to consider such a consolidation: It would save money, and/or it would improve service. Fries says the merger would do neither, and at least on one he has a point.

No one should have any illusions about the first point. Not only will a merger not save money, it is likely to cost taxpayers even more. Merging the 911 centers would allow an increase of the 911 fee charged to local telephone users. Increasing the fee would enable officials to start shifting the cost of 911 from property taxes to the fee, an idea both city and county officials have endorsed.

Anybody think those property taxes will be returned to taxpayers? No, what we'll have essentially is a backdoor tax increase of the sort city residents were hit with when garbage-collection fees were instituted.

Whether there will be greater efficiencies is the debatable question. Fries is quite adamant on this point - he goes so far as to say people will die if the new system is implemented. That seems a little drastic considering it's just the leadership system of 911 that's being changed, not an overhaul of the way the centers operate. It's just that people doing the same job for different bosses will now be colleagues - that seems designed to improve service, not reduce it.

But Fries is quite right that improved service - getting an emergency vehicle to someone who needs it faster - should be the prime concern of those considering this proposed change. And since the cost to taxpayers will likely go up instead of down, that adds even more weight to the service question.

So commissioners must decide: Is Fries just being a turf-protecting crank who would oppose all changes to 911? Or does he raise valid points that need to be addressed before a merger is approved?