Can shared services really save money?

From the Courier News:

Shared services can save county millions

If a penny saved is a penny earned, credit shared services in Somerset County with 1,950,000,000 pennies.

On Wednesday, the Public Affairs Chamber of the Somerset County Business Partnership is scheduled to release a report during its year-end meeting documenting how coordination of government services within the county saved taxpayers $19.5 million in 2006.

“To really derive the benefit from shared services and to sell it as something that works, you’ve got to prove that there’s significant savings,” said Tom Sharpe, vice president of Public Affairs at the Partnership. “To my knowledge, we’ve been the only county in the state to do that.”

But it’s a model others may soon emulate. A special government committee in Trenton met recently to study ways to encourage shared services among the state’s 566 municipalities, 616 school districts, and 486 local authorities and special districts.

“system] lends itself to redundancy and inefficiency, which are major contributing factors to high property taxes,” reads a report issued by the committee. It goes on to suggest that the state start using a little more “stick” and a little less “carrot” in the ways it encourages consolidation.

Somerset County, though, has emerged as a leader in shared services.

“We’ve been doing this in Somerset County since the early 90s,” Sharpe said. “It’s been very successful. We’ve been recognized statewide as a model.”
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In 2005, Bernards Township and Long Hill Township merged their police and emergency communications centers into a new state-of-the art dispatch center.

In 2004, Branchburg Township and Raritan Valley Community College reached an agreement in which the college receives access to the local community cable station in exchange for letting township residents use its facilities, including its pool, ball fields and theaters.

In 2002, through a shared services grant, Manville, Raritan, South Bound Brook and Bridgewater Township created the Somerset Ambulance Shared Services Agency and contracted with the Somerset Medical Center to provide daytime ambulance service.
And just this past week, Somerville and Raritan first aid squads announced that they will merge as a way to share resources and costs.

Brian Gallagher, mayor of Somerville, said his borough saved $668,000 in 2006 through shared services. There are small savings — $5,000 to share a municipal courtroom with Raritan — and bigger savings — such as the $75,000 Somerville saved by coordinating engineering services with the county. Somerville shares electrical inspectors with Raritan, and fire officials with Manville and South Bound Brook.