Interlocal governmental cooperation: A growing trend among cities attempting to cut costs while maintaining services.

摘要

Municipal governments in California are frequently choosing to furnish public services jointly with neighboring jurisdictions. This trend represents a movement away from the American tradition of "home rule," whereby city governments control all local government functions within their boundaries. The movement toward interlocal governmental cooperation is growing for a very practical reason: cities no longer possess the financial resources to deliver independently all the services requested by their residents, or mandated by state and federal governments.;This study reviews the literature pertaining to interlocal governmental cooperation, as well as relevant laws. Theoretical aspects include the Tiebout model, provision versus production of services, and the theory of fragmentation.;The study attempts to document the quantity and types of interlocal cooperative efforts occurring among local governments in California. A questionnaire was sent to 448 incorporated cities and towns in the state. Among the 39 percent of these municipalities responding to the questionnaire, 81 percent indicated that they had entered into a joint service agreement with another public agency. The diversity of joint service arrangements was revealed by the broad spectrum of services for which local governments have chosen to interact. Mutual aid agreements, pooling of insurance risks, joint purchasing, debt financing, and functional consolidation of services--particularly fire and police--are among the ways that cities and towns cooperate today.;Three separate joint service agreements that comprised the functional consolidation of entire departments between cities were examined--two for fire services and one for police services--because of the complexity in negotiating and implementing these kinds of arrangements. Sources consulted in researching the case studies included background papers prepared by staffs of local governments, consultant reports, minutes of city council meetings, local newspaper articles, and interviews with present and past city managers, councilmembers, fire and police officials--the key participants in these cooperative efforts.;Given the extensive interest in various forms of interlocal governmental cooperation, the subject of this research seems timely and useful.