Everyone Gets A VLAN and ACLs HELP

Hello,

   I am the lucky one who inherited the most insane network setup one could think of. I work in a small office with about 150 computers and connected devices. The past System Admin setup a bunch of Dell N Series switches and configured about 50 different vlans all chopped up into smaller networks and place ACLs all over the place. I am looking to crush the network down to about 5 VLANs which make more sense in my mind and do away with the ACLs as most do not make sense to me. My main question is if do away with all the ip access-groups assignments (leaving the ip access-list yes the groups) would that open the network to allow inter-vlan communication? I would like to start with allowing communication between the vlans before simplifying them. I do not need to actually get rid of the access-list groups just not assign them to an interface correct? Yes I know I will need to ensure there are assigned IPs to the interfaces and IP Default Gateways on the Interfaces of the VLANs to allow communication just first want to remove the ACL nightmare .

Thank

Rich