Normally, yes that is true and may even be in this case. The problem is there are 90 townships in St Louis County with almost that many different Police Depts and Court Systems. They could use some consolidation. During the Riots, they talked about townships annexing themselves 1 or 2 miles of the major roads to raise funds. Best example of this is the massive Public Safety/Town Hall in Ferguson when the town is only 6 square miles.
The fact that Nixon is attacking the structure solely with consolidation and centralization in mind kinda says it all for me. Just another step towards Detroitification.