What Happened?
The cities of Lewiston and Auburn in Maine recently heard proposals to consolidate the two municipalities into one locale.
So What?
While some cities across the country are making better use of resources and reducing budgets by merging emergency services or other public agencies, Lewiston and Auburn and looking to bypass that step and team up to form a single city. Council members from both cities discussed the notion, brainstorming on the different ways the merger could save taxpayer money and increase efficiency in the public sector.
Often when a city looks to merge with another town or county to share services and resources, all that is changed are the affected agencies and personnel. With the complete merging of two cities, more changes will be made to create a single municipality.
How To Do It
Maine state law requires residents in each city to draft a new charter for the unified locale. The charter must acknowledge and remedy any outstanding debts from either city, while creating unified policies on tax, real estate and other governmental duties. Researching the consolidation idea since 1996, council members estimate $2 million in savings could be achieved over five years if administrative, police, public works equipment and economic development strategies were merged between the two cities.
To start the process of outlining the new city’s rules and regulations, councilors from Lewiston and Auburn can write up a charter and submit it to the voters for approval. The charter can also be launched if 1,000 residents from each city file a petition for the consolidation and hold an election for a charter commission. The elected representatives would be tasked with writing the charter, which would later be approved by the taxpayers. Furthermore, a nonbinding referendum could be presented to voters in November proposing the consolidation, which would then trigger the creation of the charter if it was approved.
Merging Components
Ely City and White Pine County in Nevada are also looking to merge assets to reduce public costs. Rather than consolidating two cities into one, the municipalities have agreed to integration the White Pine County fire protection district and emergency medical services with the city of Ely’s fire department and medical services. The single fire and emergency medical service department would maintain existing employees, but reduce the financial and resource burdens on both entities.
In merging the departments, public officials anticipate not only saving on equipment fees and facility maintenance, but increase access to emergency services for residents across the region. Because many of the workers in the emergency departments are currently volunteers, there will be no changes to personnel. The major challenges would be the merging of dispatch systems and other technology to ensure consistency in delivery of care. The idea was first presented through a public vote, and can be finalized once it is passed by the city council and county commission.
Consolidation Success
Gov1 has followed mergers of public agencies across the country including court mergers and other shared services.