According to an article that I have just read in wickedlocal.com, the Middlesex County, Massachusetts communities of Sudbury and Wayland are looking into ways that can help them to save some money. Two boards of selectmen and town executive officers met at Sky Restaurant last week to discuss some cost-cutting initiatives. The main topic of discussion turned out to be a new concept aimed at helping the two cities cut overhead costs, regionalization. Regionalization is a means for neighboring cities to share services and pool resources in hopes of cutting down on overall operating costs.
This article entitled, “Wayland and Sudbury look at areas where the two towns can share services” goes on to mention some of the services which could be shared by the two towns. Some of the short-term ideas discussed at this meeting were combining the transfer station operations of the two towns as well as sharing library services and recreation department administration programs and equipment. For the long term, Sudbury and Wayland would seek to develop alternative energy resources, share police services and collaborate on GIS data-gathering and Council on Aging services. Other potential services that the two cities would share in the future include sharing equipment, pre-season preparationof playing fields and coordinating summer programs. Some of these initiatives could potentially be financed by state or Federal grants.
There are those who think this would be a great way to help both cities save some of their budgets during these especially difficult economic times and of course there are detractors. I am sure that this would be welcomed by residents of both towns if, in fact, it can help them save some money on their property taxes, foer example. What do you think, would regionalization be a good idea for these two towns or should “business as usual” be the order of the day?
Please click to read this article in its entirety at wicked local.com.
