TAKING A LESSON FROM BOCES
Robert Ward, deputy director of the Rockefeller Institute of Government,
puts forward the idea that
local governments might use BOCES - Boards of Cooperative Education
Services that offered certain shared services - as a model for
intermunipal cooperation on a regional scale. Rather than dissolving
whole governments or creating a new one, Ward suggests in the winter
edition of Government, Law and Policy Journal, local officials
might look at a more modest proposal to create a non-profit entity
that could offer services to any municipalities that want to join
in voluntarily.
Ward, like others, notes that the idea of consolidating governments
just doesn’t seem popular, or possible:
“Such ideas have found little support in the Legislature,
however. Small wonder—voters themselves don’t seem
to like the idea, either. When given the opportunity to consolidate
school districts, highway departments or other entities, they
tend to choose the status quo even when presented with credible
evidence of substantial tax savings to come. The New York State
Constitution raises hurdles to consolidation of municipalities,
such as a triple referendum requirement for transfer of functions
from villages to counties. And New York’s public-employee
unions—influential players in Albany—are often antagonistic
to structural reforms that might trim payrolls.”
Alternatively, he wonders whether existing BOCES could be used
to offer certain services to governments, rather than just school
districts.
