Editorial: The promise of regionalization

Published on June 13, 2008

Pelham's financial woes may turn out to provide an opportunity not just for the town but for other communities in the Pioneer Valley. Faced with a budget squeeze, and the challenge of overcoming voter resistance to a Proposition 2½ override, Pelham officials are exploring the idea of cutting costs by working with other municipalities, including Amherst, to provide town services under a regionalization scenario.

The idea was first broached by Pelham Finance Commission Chairman John Trickey as a back-up measure in the event that the town's latest override effort failed. On June 19, town residents will vote on a $200,000 override for capital expenses to help Pelham deal with aging vehicles and buildings.

The concept of regionalization, though, has merit regardless of the outcome of the override effort - and not just for Pelham. Communities can potentially reduce administrative costs, and achieve greater efficiencies, by regionalizing services.

The Franklin Regional Council of Governments stands as a good example.

The council, which was formed after county government was abolished in 1997, provides 26 towns with a variety of services, including health inspections, engineering services, transportation planning and town accounting.

Through a cooperative purchasing program, member communities also save money by buying in bulk. It is currently considering taking the next step in regionalization by studying the possibility of greater cooperation among school districts.

Pelham selectmen recently decided to initiate discussions with other municipalities about cooperatively providing services. Their decision comes at a time when many other municipalities in the Valley are struggling to keep their budgets in balance.

"We are to the point where we cannot really cut departments much more without really cutting services," said Selectmen Edward Martin, who has become the board's point man on regionalization. "I think the other towns are starting to feel the pinch, too."

Amherst could prove to be a good fit as Pelham looks for possible municipal partners.

In addition to the regional school district, the two towns already have an agreement for regional ambulance service and they share a veteran's agent. What's more, Amherst's Town Manager Larry Shafer is receptive to the idea of exploring the possibility of regionalizing services. "We owe it to our taxpayers from both an efficiency perspective and a quality perspective to talk about regionalization," Shaffer said.

This is a refreshing perspective. In the past, some municipalities have been inclined to protect their own turf and resist regionalization.

More recently, though, regionalization has gained favor throughout the state.

A number of discussions about regionalization have already been held by the Massachusetts Municipal Association. In addition, Hadley Superintendent Nick Young is the co-chairman of a statewide task force that is studying how regionalization might benefit school districts and produce cost savings.

Young cautions that regionalization might not work for every municipality or school district. He notes that there might be options other than regionalization, such as "interlocal compacts," that would allow school districts to share resources, improve the quality of services and cut costs.

Indeed, all of those options, along with regionalization, should be on the table.

Pelham's exploration of regionalization and other cooperative cost-cutting measures could well prove beneficial to its own residents - and instructive for other municipalities facing the same budget concerns.