Regionalizing local services in Massachusetts.

• Author: Siegenthaler, Mark
• Position: Includes related article - State/Provincial Highlights

For many years in Massachusetts, municipal officials have talked about regional approaches as an alternative to local service delivery. Today, regionalism as an activity, not just a topic of discussion, has begun to advance. Declining local revenues have spurred new attention to the potential for cost-effective consolidation. An awareness of environmental problems requiring cooperative approaches has fueled multicommunity resource protection strategies. The growth of regionalism has occurred primarily on two levels--ad hoc agreements among communities and a more formal approach through regional planning agencies and counties. This article describes these activities and the resources that the Massachusetts Executive Office of Communities and Development (EOCD) has available to municipalities. Then it explores questions that communities must answer in deciding to go forward with regionalism.

Ad Hoc Agreements

The first level of regional activity is an ad hoc system of interlocal

agreements tying two or more communities together in a contractual relationship to share services, purchase supplies or equipment, or solve mutual planning or resource protection problems. Some of these agreements have no formal basis; the handshake of two local officials seals the cooperative deal. In other cases, formal, written agreements or contracts safeguard the parties as to roles, responsibilities and costs.

There are several notable examples of interlocal agreements among communities. The Southeastern Regional Services Group, 14 communities centered in Easton, have joined together to promote regional purchasing and personnel administration. Cooperative bidding of road repair work, for example, has resulted in significant dollar savings. The Regional Planning Services Office of Franklin, Norfolk and Wrentham provides planning skills to communities that would otherwise be without. The staff time is allocated to the three communities in accordance with the interlocal agreement. Among the many other examples of agreements is the joint recycling program between Newburyport and Amesbury. The communities hold title to recycling vehicles jointly, and the collection contract is advertised and bid individually.

Grants from the EOCD have supported local efforts to design regional services and planning strategies. In 1992, the EOCD began a focused technical assistance effort to assist communities with regional agreements by providing a database of documents and details for this second level of regionalism.

Communities interested in increasing their regional activities can turn to the EOCD's two-year-old Bureau of Planning and Regionalism and the Regionalism Resource Center, which is the first of its kind in the state. The center's primary mission is to serve as a clearinghouse of examples of interlocal agreements between the communities of the commonwealth and to assist those communities which express an interest in understanding...