Municipal trio look to extend shared service deals
COHOES, N.Y. >> State leaders have been pushing local governments for more than a decade to work together and share services as a way to save money.
Those of f icials only have to look a few miles north of the state Capitol for an example of such arrangements and how they can help all involved. At a Tuesday workshop, the Cohoes Common Council discussed renewing shared service agreements with the city of Wat erv liet and village of Green Island. Later this month, the council is expected to agree to renew those agreements.
Under the agreement, each municipality agrees to lend either of the others any necessary equipment and vehicles, as well as defining mutual- aid agreements among their respective fire and police departments.
“This is just a continued effort for the city of Cohoes to work with our local partners to provide services that one or the other may need and to save taxpayers as much money as possible,” said Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse.
Sean Ward, executive assistant to Green Island Mayor El len McNultyRyan, agreed such deals are important ways for municipalities to provide services it may not be able to afford on its own without a steep tax increase.
“We have great relationships with our shared ser-
vices agreements,” said Ward. “The agreements make things more efficient, and, in some instances, there’s cost savings. There are a lot of benefits to doing this.”
Watervliet Mayor Michael Manning and Ward said they can recall many times their municipalities have benefitted from the agreements.
“It ranges from formal things that are reoccurring to city ‘A’ has a piece of equipment that city ‘ B’ doesn’t have and you can use it then,” said Manning.
“We don’t have a vacuum t r uck t hat can suck out the debris and stuff from our stormwater catch spaces, but Cohoes has one, so on an annual basis, we have an arrangement to use that truck and do our maintenance.”
The agreement also comes in handy in an emergency.
“A couple of weeks ago, we had our only garbage truck break down,”
Ward explained, “and we just ran over to Watervliet. They weren’t using theirs, so we went over and picked it up and used it.”
Morse said he believes such agreements helps government run more effectively and efficiently.
“It’s certainly government trying to be as effective and efficient as possible, and these shared service agreements that we’ve been doing forever allow us to do that,” said Morse.
Manning said t hat even though Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been pushing municipalities to share services, these agreements are nothing new for cities like Watervliet.
“We’ve already been doing it,” Manning said, “so it’s a little misleading, because sometimes that program comes off that we’re not doing anything, but at least down here in the trenches, small communities like Watervliet, Cohoes and Green Island are doing it, have been doing it and plan to continue doing it, whether the governor has a program like this or not.”