The Value of Sharing
By Albert B. Kelly
As a mayor, there are certain things you tend to keep an eye
on because of the potential to help your community financially and otherwise. What
those things are varies from town to town and each mayor will have his or her
own mental checklist, but there are some constants and one of them is shared
services. I recall focusing on this several years ago and at that time, we had
approximately 18 such agreements. As of this writing, that number has gone up
to 31 including 24 where Bridgeton is providing something and 7 where we are
receiving.
As the New Jersey Shared Services Portal points out, there
are roughly 600 school districts in the state and 565 municipalities and you
have to wonder how many of these communities duplicate services and at what
cost. When I pondered this question previously, I learned that nearly 60% of
the communities in the state had a population of less than 10k spread out over
some 250 boroughs, 245 townships, 15 towns, and 3 villages. Surely there are
some improvements to be had.
At first glance, as a topic of discussion, shared services
has about the same appeal as reading a user’s manual for a toaster oven. But shave
a little down below the surface and you quickly realize that people can be
passionate about the subject in much the same way some people are passionate
about protecting the right to bear arms because it speaks to “home rule” which
in turn touches on a “don’t tread on me” sensibility in society.
That is fully understandable- freedom to choose and to
control our environment is what this country and our communities are founded
on. Viewed in those terms, $150k or $200k worth of shared services (i.e. Bridgeton’s
range), whether you’re providing or receiving them, hardly seems worth it if it
means losing autonomy. But as we approach the third decade of the 21st
century community life is a lot more involved than it was when most communities
were founded and autonomy comes with a price tag.
For Bridgeton, we participate in a variety of shared service
agreements mostly with our neighbors in western Cumberland County and with
County government. These services include a joint municipal court, emergency
medical services, public works equipment; fire safety and construction code
inspections, tax assessing, fleet maintenance, police services, and water
emergencies. There is also Mutual aid for fire calls, and solid waste/recycling
services. But there is room to grow.
The list seems like a good cross-section touching a lot of
areas; a testament to the fact that modern community life is complicated.
Shared services as a formal framework for local government in the state emerged
in the 1970’s when New Jersey passed laws authorizing and defining the concept.
In the last decade or so, shared services in its various forms throughout the
Garden State has saved roughly $28 million. Each governor for the past two
decades, regardless of party, has encouraged shared services and bills have
been considered in the legislature with only limited success.
Yet, I suspect that municipalities will have to get better
at shared services in the years ahead and much of the pressure will come from
the things local communities will be required to do just to maintain a minimum
of health and safety. I’m thinking now about basic things like water and sewer,
trash and recycling, energy generation and conservation, and so much more. I
don’t know how climate change or global warming will impact these, but it won’t
be neutral. As science and technology uncover more threats to health, we’ll
have to respond and there won’t be many quick fixes- just expensive ones.
We’re in the habit of expecting government to step in and
solve problems, especially problems the private sector can’t easily turn a
profit on or where the risk is just too high. This won’t change but as the
problems become more complex touching more of our lives, it will mean that
government at all levels will have to become leaner and more efficient in order
to respond.
If I’m right about the future, then much of what we’ve been
doing in the way of shared services are really baby steps whose chief value is
not so much cost savings, though there are some, but in getting us accustomed
to the idea that in the not-too-distant-future, we won’t have much of a
choice.