Sharing of services is a needed move

by: Bill Liblick

Consolidation and sharing of services between other municipalities has been the recent theme at the Sullivan County Government Center.

Clearly, it is about time.

First there is word several agencies including The Partnership for Economic Development, Chamber of Commerce, Visitors Association, Industrial Development Agency and the Center for Workforce Development will be placed under a newly formed board to be called Sullivan County Economic Development Corporation (EDC). 

Finally one hand will know what the other is doing, which will enable them to work in concert towards the same goals.

Now we hear that Legislature Chairman Jonathan Rouis met with officials from Orange County in an effort to look into ways of saving money by sharing services.

Orange County Executive Ed Diana and Rouis would like to work in unity in an effort to save costs in electricity, office supplies, garbage removal and other municipal purchases and services. They have agreed to meet on a continual basis.

Rouis said, “I am committed to exploring shared services and collaborative opportunities with all of our local municipalities and our neighboring counties in an effort to lower costs to the taxpayers. Much like the work Pattern for Progress is doing on a larger scale with the nine counties of the Hudson Valley, I believe our local governments can improve our efficiency and reduce redundancy by collaborating on everything from fuel and bulk energy purchasing to sharing information about cost efficiency measures.”

One major issue we face is the high costs associated with garbage and our landfill. Majority Leader Kathleen LaBuda, who chairs the Legislature’s Public Works Committee, told me that “partnering with another County with regard to solid waste services is certainly an avenue we are interested in. I believe we can accomplish more by working together with our neighbors than by going it alone or attempting to recreate the wheel in terms of solid waste services.”

I could not agree more with LaBuda.

Echoing her sentiments, Minority leader Leni Binder said, “This is a bipartisan effort, and our collective goal is to continue to deliver the services our residents expect, at the lowest possible cost. If this can be accomplished by sharing services and splitting the cost with our neighboring counties, we need to explore those options.”

It is  so refreshing to hear the words “bipartisan,” maybe once and for all they are all finally getting it.

Frank Armstrong, who chairs the Legislative Management and Budget Committee, added, “These are more difficult economic times than many of us have ever seen. It’s a no-brainer that we should be exploring any and all opportunities to work with our neighbors to cut costs. The status of our local economies necessitates collaboration and cooperation between municipalities if we expect to continue offering our residents the same quality-of-life services while holding the line on property taxes. Certainly we can accomplish more together than we could as individual municipalities.”

All this is really great news, and I truly applaud all of our legislators for their sincere efforts in working with Orange County to see where we can save costs through working together.

County Manager David Fanslau added, “With the high cost of capital expenditures such as the County Jail and solid waste infrastructure, it just makes sense to develop regional solutions to issues that have a significant impact on all counties’ budgets.”

We need to see even more of this type of philosophy enacted by the legislature and county government right here at home.

Sullivan County has too much government, and we need consolidation.  Everyone will admit that there is too much overlapping of services between county, town and village governments, but no one seriously wants to deal with this dilemma.

Now is the time to do so.

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