Grebien’s Shared Services Proposal has Governor’s Support
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien’s proposal to study the regionalization of municipal services with his struggling neighbor cities of East Providence and Central Falls has found sympathetic ears in the governor’s office.
“In these difficult economic times, when municipalities across the state are struggling to recover from deep cuts in state aid, distressed communities must explore shared services as a way to achieve greater efficiency and cost savings. The time has come for this idea to be seriously considered. As I continue to make the fiscal health of our communities a key priority, my administration will work to lay the groundwork for the ‘shared services’ mechanism to allow the interaction between different cities and towns,” Chafee said in a release issued by Grebien’s office Sunday evening.
In his letter to the governor, Grebien had asked for help in developing proposals that could benefit taxpayers in the three distressed municipalities. Central Falls is currently in receivership, while Pawtucket and East Providence have received advance payments on state aid to meet payrolls.
Grebien said the goal is to develop plans that would gain net revenue for the “host” city while cutting costs for the other two cities.
“I want to thank the Governor for stepping to the plate to support innovative solutions for the difficult financial challenges faced by so many of our cities and towns throughout Rhode Island,” Grebien said.
“We have an uncommon opportunity to explore ways we can work together for our mutual economic benefit. I am confident Pawtucket can provide municipal services in well-defined areas for other communities, in a win-win way for everyone involved, especially the taxpayers,” he added.
Grebien said a shared services concept was included in the five-year debt stabilization plan he submitted to state revenue and other top officials, and that talks have continued since on a periodic basis.
Potential partners applaud
East Providence Mayor Bruce Rogers and Central Falls City Councilman James Diossa both saluted the news and Grebien’s role in taking up the issue of shared services.
“I think it’s an excellent idea. Cooperation like that would only be a benefit to the taxpayers,” Rogers said.
“I welcome the fact (Grebien) has taken a leadership role in exploring it,” Diossa said, adding that he wants to ensure the plan will benefit all three cities before its implementation.
Rogers said the concept, if demonstrated to work, could be taken beyond public works into other areas.
“I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in human resources, centralizing purchases, and perhaps even in parks and recreation areas. There are very few services that are really specific to those cities,” he said, adding that recycling, trash removal and utility costs are other areas worthy of consideration for sharing.
Diossa wanted to make sure shared services have been properly studied before implementation, however.
“We want to make sure it works in the best interests of the three cities, and see what comes out after we explore it and make sure it’s saving money. If not, it dies there,” he said.
Rogers said savings have likely been available in the past, before the current fiscal crisis forced municipalities to get more creative.
“The economy is such that we’d look fondly upon these kinds of consolidation,” he said.
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North Kingstown Town Manager Michael Embury, former director of the R.I. City and Town Managers Association, has been involved in several ongoing, and rejected, partnerships with other municipalities. He said his town shares information technology functions with Exeter, is looking into a partnership for school IT with New Shoreham, and has an agreement with Jamestown to house the island community’s stray animals.
His town took a pass, however, on a regional fire dispatch agreement with Warwick and East Greenwich, which are near a final deal on regionalized dispatch. (The East Greenwich Fire District provides fire protection for the Potawamut section of Warwick, which is only accessible from Warwick through East Greenwich).
“There were still a lot of questions to be answered, so we kind of stepped back,” Embury said.
While supportive of the three-city regionalization initiative, Embury warned that it’s not all about the dollar signs.
“I caution people that believe just because they’re doing things together there’s going to be huge amounts of money saved,” he said.
Organization and layout of responsibilities are just as important, he said.
“What do you want the organization to look like? Who reports to whom? What happens in emergency situations? There’s a lot of short-term issues, but you have to look at long-term and look at what the benefits are,” Embury said.
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