Recently, City Councilman Ben Hueso proposed the concept of consolidating city and county government and functions into one entity, like San Francisco does. The San Diego Union-Tribune has come out opposed to this idea.  Hueso is right and wrong.  The U-T is wrong and right.  The answer is less than Hueso’s current vision but a much greater vision than the U-T has shown. Predictably, the county board of supervisors isn’t receptive to the idea. I imagine the 17 other cities in the county would be concerned about losing local control and would initially oppose such a measure if they were asked to participate. There is another approach, however. Why not explore the possibility of the city of San Diego becoming California’s newest — the 59th — county?  Let San Diego County and the other 17 cities carry on — or invite some of those cities to join the new county if it makes fiscal sense. Currently, San Diego County receives 38 cents back on each dollar of property tax we send to Sacramento. The county keeps some and each municipality gets some. The state average is 47 cents returned on the dollar.  Los Angeles and San Francisco get better than that based on the percentage they received under a formula conceived pre-Prop 13. San Diego County suffers, and has done so for years, because we have traditionally been very fiscally prudent. Would a new county be able to negotiate a better deal or distribute more of the city of San Diego’s dollars back into the city (theoretically a new county) limits? If the answer is even a tepid maybe, then Mayor Jerry Sanders and the City Council would be derelict in their duties if they failed to investigate their options.  The county does perform some functions within the city, but, presumably, a new county would get funds for those same county functions and offset those costs. The big stumbling block could be prisons.  Likely a new county would have to contract out jail services. Happily, we have a county jail in downtown already.  Interestingly, if the new county was set up to contract out jail services, it might be able to solicit bids from the current county, Orange County and maybe elsewhere — competition might beget further savings. Would the new county be big enough, by acreage or population? The answer to both questions is yes. The city of San Diego has more than 1.2 million people. That would rank as the 16th most populous of the 58 counties in California.  At 324 square miles, the new county would be nearly four times larger than San Francisco and be the sixth county with fewer than 600 square miles.  Conversely, the remaining county would be very large and have a greater population if only San Diego city splits off. Should the city go it alone?  A logical argument can be made for two counties where just San Diego County is now.  Would Chula Vista, National City (Ron Morrison will knee-jerk “no”), Imperial Beach and Coronado most logically be served by a proposed new county? Probably. Do the socioeconomics and distance from downtown of Encinitas, Carlsbad, San Marcos, Solana Beach, Santee, Oceanside, Vista, Escondido and Poway call for alignment with the existing, but restructured, county? Probably.  What about El Cajon, La Mesa and Lemon Grove? The latter two share lots of common boundary with San Diego but “feel” (not very scientific I know) like they should be with El Cajon in a restructured county. Finally, Del Mar presents good arguments either way. We need dialogue.  I would strongly encourage Councilmember Hueso, Mayor Sanders and the rest of the City Council to investigate creating a new city/county. Then the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), an existing third party with the expertise to investigate what a new county might be comprised of, could offer the forum for a dialogue to devise a plan best suited for our region.  SANDAG is made up of representatives of all the potentially impacted incorporated cities and the county already. — Point Loma resident Kirk Mather served former Mayor Susan Golding and was program manager to the Regional Government Efficiency Commission.