Interlocal Service Delivery: A Practical Guide to Intergovernmental Agreements / Contracts for Local Officials

摘要

Guidelines to assist in the development of contracts for interlocal service delivery are presented. Governments with interlocal service delivery agreements can buy materials by volume, share the cost of expensive equipment, and share the services of experts. Waste disposal, public safety, health care, and transportation are examples of services already being economically and efficiently delivered in cooperation with neighboring jurisdictions. Contracts, transfer of functions, consolidation, and joint service agreements have been tested in an attempt to achieve interlocal cooperation. Detailed procedures for developing formal service contracts are given. Initial considerations in contract formulation are legal authority, costs, policy and politics, resource assessment, and the evaluation of advantages and disadvantages. In developing a contract, consideration must also be given to the role of the recipient government, the role of the provider government, the interlocal coordinator, the contract itself, an annotated contract outline, and elements of an interlocal contract. Methods of estimating costs are detailed, as well as administrative aspects of preparing and implementing a contract. Appendices contain a glossary, a list of State constitutional / statutory references, information on the double taxation issue, an annotated bibliography, and sample contract agreements and cost worksheets.