How Regionalism Could Solve Municipal Affordability Issues

Connecticut lawmakers are proposing a regionalism strategy to help municipalities across the state save money without sacrificing services to residents

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What Happened?

Connecticut lawmakers are proposing a regionalism strategy to help municipalities across the state save money without sacrificing services to residents.

Regionalism

In Connecticut, a movement is taking shape to encourage cities and towns to consolidate their services while reducing costs, eliminating redundant expenses and improving overall efficiency. The state government is considering a package of reforms to increase transparency and local government performance, the Hartford Courant reported.

The Municipal Opportunities and Regional Efficiencies (MORE) Commission argues that regionalizing some governmental functions at the municipal level will reduce overreliance on local property taxes while improving the ability of cities and towns to provide cost-effective services to residents. Some of the commission’s recommendations include:

  • Issuing one to cover municipal services and a second bill for education costs while allowing cities to split the tax bill costs
  • Implementing a common school calendar
  • Allowing communities to publish truncated versions of legal notices in newspapers
  • Enabling regional training of certain municipal employees
  • Requiring new property purchased by nonprofits to remain on municipal tax rolls

The MORE Commission has also developed legislative proposals that focus on regionalization of special education – specifically improving educator training and transition services for students. The recommendations include:

  • Modifying teacher certification requirements to include more special education courses
  • Providing additional low cost or free teacher, paraprofessional and administrator training opportunities at regional and state levels
  • Encouraging districts, state or regional entities to establish online training programs
  • Coordinating all student transition services programs under one state agency
  • Funding transition programs at the state level to avoid gaps

According to the commission, implementing a regionalism approach to special education reform will improve the efficacy while reducing costs.

New Jersey Counties

State lawmakers in New Jersey are also considering changing the way roles and responsibilities are divided among local and state entities. One proposal calls for eliminating the state’s 21 county governments in an effort to streamline services and save money by avoiding duplicative services. As a result, the state and local governments would provide all services to citizens, The Star-Ledger reported.

This proposal marks a new approach to government consolidation strategies – which typically feature a county government absorbing the services of a city or town in financial distress, or multiple municipalities combining service delivery.

Throughout New Jersey’s 565 municipal governments, many consolidation strategies have been successfully launched to save money while preserving public services to residents. Consolidation projects include merging jails, court services and animal control. These initiatives are designed to lower costs and help municipalities become less dependent on rising property taxes.

Princeton Borough and Princeton Township went so far as to merge their towns in 2011 resulting in a 2 cent decline in the tax rate. While consolidation of specific services has been well-received, full merging of towns and cities is still up for debate. According to a recent study from Rutgers, 46 percent of New Jersey residents preferred to stay independent rather than merge their town with another municipality, while 45 percent chose consolidation, NJ.com reported.

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