Why Regionalization Isn't working

I don't know if any of our locals were there, but the Massachusetts Municipal Association held a forum last week on regionalization

First, in a bit of weirdness I first heard about the conference from a friend's kick ass Shrewsbury-centric blog. This fellow isn't a journalist so it pains me, just a bit, to say I wish this blog were as close to being as comprehensive as his. But he does have more time to work on it, so I'm not beating myself up too vigorously. The blog benefits from his being directly involved in the governing process as he's a town meeting member.

Anyway, the blog item linked to a story on the MMA website about a regionalization conference which, coincidentally, was written from another friend of mine. My blogger friend didn't write the piece and even if he had he doesn't know my MMA writer pal so this was a bit of coincidence. It's a small InterWeb afterall.

The gist of the article is this: regionalization is difficult. We've talked about it here and here . It seems as if the most successful endeavors happened in areas that are regionally bound, Cape Cod, or rural areas where small towns have fewer choices and, frankly, fewer egos.

But putting all that aside, regionalization is tough. But--in the familiar words of Franklin Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting--communities don't have a choice.

“For the vast majority of cities and towns, I don’t believe that local government [as it currently operates] is sustainable,” Nutting said. “People are not going to vote every year to increase their taxes, and that’s what they’re being asked to do.”

Nutting noted that the potential obstacles to regionalization, including resistance from unions and from some local officials unwilling to reduce their own authority, are considerable. But he emphasized that it is important for local leaders to understand the need to regionalize not as a sign of failure but as a necessary response to fiscal realities.

“Wouldn’t it be better to have one library in two towns, rather than no libraries in two towns?” Nutting asked. “And why in the world do we have 106 [municipal] pension systems? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have one single organization to send our money to?

“If this conference accomplishes anything, it should be for all of us to walk away and say, ‘How am I going to create change?’”

How indeed.