Can Consolidation Improve Local Government?

Done right, consolidation can save money and upgrade services. Towns have been doing just that for generations and have both the expertise and willingness to do more. But experience shows that we don’t have to eliminate governments to consolidate. In fact, the greatest potential gains can be achieved through "functional consolidation" across jurisdictional lines. For example, municipal, school and county governments in an area could all agree to share services where economies of scale or other objective criteria justify it (for example, personnel and computer services). Some needs, such as watershed management to minimize flooding can only be achieved by working together in this manner.

The concept of service consolidation (as opposed to consolidation of governmental bodies) was endorsed at the December 10, 2003 Local Government Summit convened by Governor Jim Doyle.

Bitter annexation and zoning fights may sometimes create the impression that Wisconsin local governments never get along. Yet the fact is that intergovernmental cooperation is alive and well in Wisconsin. City, village and town leaders have found that working together is often the best way to deliver efficient, high quality services. State law allows towns to enter into mutual agreements with neighboring municipalities to maintain or change the natural and developed uses of specified town, village and city territories for a period of ten or more years. These agreements can, but are not necessarily required to, include boundary changes. They must satisfy a number of state and federal laws affecting such matters as affordable housing and urban sprawl. The agreement process is subject to review by the state Department of Administration, but once an agreement is approved, annexations initiated by individual property owners are no longer possible because all subsequent annexations must occur as specified in the agreement. This procedure was created in 1992 to provide a less controversial alternative to municipal boundary and local government changes involving annexations and incorporations. Over a dozen cooperative boundary agreements are now in force in Dane, Iowa, Juneau, Kenosha, Marathon, Portage, Rock, Washington, Waukesha and Wood Counties.

The fire service is one example of how local governments can cooperatively deliver basic public services. Wisconsin’s 1,850 towns, villages and cities are served by only 850 fire departments. Local governments in Wisconsin have the flexibility to cooperate in different ways. In some cases, one municipality simply contracts with another for fire protection services. In others, two or more governments jointly operate a department. However accomplished, cooperative agreements allow local governments to benefit from the economies of scale while still retaining their distinctive community identities.