Regionalization: Economies of scale or more of the same?

from NewsLink, Vol. 1, No. 4, Summer 1997

Saying it marks a new beginning, a legislative commission recently concluded that regionalization would greatly benefit Massachusetts' cities and towns.

In releasing the July report, Thomas M. Menino, mayor of Boston and chairman of the Regionalization Commission, said: "With the legislature considering the abolition of counties, it is time for us to consider the new economic and delivery partnerships that will bring our region into the 21st Century in terms of governance."

The 13-member commission urged the Commonwealth to encourage and examine regional provision of services such as wastewater treatment, ambulance service, cooperative purchasing and professional training programs.

Most significantly, the commission, which represented municipalities from Norfolk, Suffolk, Middlesex and Essex counties, said such voluntary agreements among cities and towns for joint provision of services would save taxpayers money.

But the study is about more than cost-cutting. The commission urged a "Council of Governments" structure to oversee the delivery of services and called for an "economic development forum" to attract business and industry.

The recommendations come as the state legislature is considering the abolition of all county government in Massachusetts. At the close of the most recent legislative session, then Governor William F. Weld signed a measure abolishing Middlesex County. Other county governments are expected to shut down.

Regionalism is not a new idea. Other states delegate more intrastate responsibilities to counties, districts, and sublevel entities than does Massachusetts. However, because of New England's "home rule" tradition, Massachusetts has lagged behind states in other parts of the country in instituting regional solutions to common local problems. This New England tradition respects the autonomous open town meeting form of governance that favors highly local provision of services and accountability. This still holds sway in the public's mind. The commission reports that on the whole Massachusetts citizens think their towns are doing well.

Although the town meeting ideal is strong, the commission noted, "One of the greatest structural impediments to municipal fiscal health is the inefficiency of providing certain municipal services on a small scale. The need to duplicate every essential municipal service and to carry the full cost of service delivery overhead and infrastructure on the budget of every municipality is inherently inefficient." This current division of labor between state and local government cannot meet the challenges of the "new metropolitan reality."

"The need to duplicate every essential municipal service and to carry the full cost of service delivery overhead and infrastructure on the budget of every municipality is inherently inefficient."

In the context of this "new metropolitan reality," a growing consensus among policymakers, opinion leaders and elected officials stresses regional cooperation. Arguing that political, geographic and infrastructure boundaries do not separate issues and problems, some observers maintain that regionalism is the wave of the future.

University of Minnesota Law Professor Myron Orfield, writing in his new book Metropolitics, believes federal withdrawal from the realm of urban policy requires a better solution. Decline, sprawl and polarization, he says, are problems too large for individual cities and towns. His regional solution calls for -among other things - property tax-base sharing and other redistributional policies to help the poor find job opportunities in the suburbs.

Such far-reaching solutions may be doomed to political failure in the Bay State, where citizens are strongly attached to the concept of local autonomy and where resistance to sharing "urban" problems appears to be strong. Past attempts at regionalization have succeeded because they focused on consolidating functions rather than establishing regional entities or authorities. Most of all they succeeded because they were voluntary.

According to a poll conducted for the commission, voters responded favorably when asked about consolidating services. However, they raised second thoughts when asked about the concept of regionalization. Presumably their objections are based upon the fear of establishing another layer of intrusive government that may conflict with autonomy.

As the authors write, "The survey results show that these fears or feelings can be combined to defeat decisively proposals for regionalization." The commission thinks that cooperative efforts can succeed if they are pursued one problem or service at a time.

The commission's thoughtful work is a fair assessment of what can be done to save the taxpayers money while improving the delivery of services.

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