Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Choices In Regional Governance Structures: Special Districts As Collaboration Mechanisms, Jayce L. Farmer

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This paper uses contextual explanations of regional governance to explore how the limitations to voluntary regionalism can lead to the more centralized, more regulated method of using regional special districts. An ICA perspective is used to discuss the range of choices in institutional arrangements available to jurisdictions. Motivations that jurisdictions may have to use more versus less autonomous methods of ICA are outlined to frame how regional districts fall within this spectrum. A rational choice perspective is also employed to identify the collective and selective benefits that motivate local actors to cooperate, as well as identify the potential transaction cost …

Confronting Fiscal Stress In Municipal Governments: Support By Michigan Residents For Eight Common Strategies, Jered Carr

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This report discusses findings from a survey of 660 randomly selected Michigan residents in winter 2007. The survey examined attitudes of Michigan residents toward eight strategies to resolving situations where current revenues are inadequate to support local services at past levels. The strategies examined fall into two broad categories. The first set (tax increases, state and federal aid) seeks to increase local revenues available to support services at previously existing levels and quality. The second set of strategies focus on reducing the costs of providing services with the objective of maintaining previous levels at a lower cost. This set includes …

Governance By Agreements: Why Do Local Governments Enter Into Multilateral Agreements?, Simon Andrew

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

While much can be learned about the roles of interjurisdictional agreements between two jurisdictions, little is known about the range and scope of multilateral agreements (MLAs) in the provision of collective goods. Based on the theory of institutional collective action, this paper explores two characteristics of agreements: restrictive and adaptive, and seeks to understand why local governments enter into one arrangement and not the other. This paper argues that the local government decisions to enter into MLAs are influenced by the characteristics of goods and services, the nature of interjurisdictional relations, the geographic configuration of governments, and the number of …

Fiscal Conditions, Political Interests, And Service Outsourcing Decisions: The Case Of Georgia Counties, Ya Anna Ni, Zhirong Jerry Zhao

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

The question why a government chooses a specific service delivery tool to provide public service to its citizenry is a central intellectual inquiry in public administration. This paper develops a framework to explain the production and sector choices of public services by political-economic environment, organizational capacity, service market condition, and nature of service. Using operation and financial data of Georgia county governments during 2000-2006, we apply the framework to analyze Georgia counties’ public service outsourcing decisions, focusing on the effects of fiscal condition and political interests. The logistic regression results show that the choice of external production is negatively associated …

Fiscal Conditions, Political Interests, And Service Outsourcing Decisions: The Case Of Georgia Counties, Ya Anna Ni, Zhirong Jerry Zhao

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

The question why a government chooses a specific service delivery tool to provide public service to its citizenry is a central intellectual inquiry in public administration. This paper develops a framework to explain the production and sector choices of public services by political-economic environment, organizational capacity, service market condition, and nature of service. Using operation and financial data of Georgia county governments during 2000-2006, we apply the framework to analyze Georgia counties’ public service outsourcing decisions, focusing on the effects of fiscal condition and political interests. The logistic regression results show that the choice of external production is negatively associated …

Outsourcing In U.S. Cities, Ambulances And Elderly Voters, Matthew J. Holian

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Many of the largest cities in the United States outsource emergency medical services. This paper develops a political economy model of city service provision. Empirical analysis of emergency ambulances in the 200 largest U.S. cities finds that a number of variables are significant determinants of amblu- ance outsourcing, including the fraction of a city's voters over the age of 65. This finding provides evidence that interest-group politics are important, and suggests a particular shape of the contracting cost curve.

Councils Of Government And Nonprofit Community Conferences, Kelly Leroux

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

No abstract provided.

Explaining Horizontal And Vertical Cooperation On Public Services In Michigan: The Role Of Local Fiscal Capacity, Jered B. Carr, Elisabeth R. Gerber, Eric W. Lupher

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Michigan local governments engage in a wide range of cooperative activities. Little is known, however, about what factors motivate local governments to engage in intergovernmental cooperation and how local government officials choose among various forms of collaboration. We develop and test a theory of intergovernmental cooperation that explains differences in the factors that lead local governments to engage in horizontal cooperation with other local units versus vertical cooperation with county or state governments. Our primary focus is on fiscal capacity: we hypothesize that limited fiscal capacity leads many local governments, especially townships, to work collaboratively with state or county actors …

Regional Governance Institutions And Interlocal Cooperation For Service Delivery, Sung-Wook Kwon

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Fragmentation of authority defines a first-order problem by creating economies of scale and positive and negative externalities in the provision of local public services. Resolving first-order problems leads to the second-order collective action problem of developing regional institutions that alter the first-order problem in a manner that improves joint outcomes. This paper investigates how regional councils of governments facilitate service cooperation by reducing transaction costs in interlocal service contracting. I focus on the role of the regional governance organizations, the characteristics of services, and political institutions while controlling for service markets and community characteristics. The results suggest that local governments …

Intergovernmental Cooperation: A Position Paper From The Michigan Government Finance Officers Association, Art Holdsworth

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

No abstract provided.

Selling Stakeholders On Interlocal Cooperation, Art Holdsworth

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

No abstract provided.

Interlocal Cooperation In The Supply Of Local Public Goods: A Transaction Cost And Social Exchange Explanation, Manoj Shrestha, Richard Feiock

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Although a multiplicity of local governments is often regarded as promoting efficiency in the supply of public services, political fragmentation can generate economies of scale and externality problems. Several exogenous solutions, including the creation of overlapping districts governments, consolidation of existing units and establishment of a metropolitan government, or direct state or federal intervention, have been offered. We argue that cooperative governance offers a potential endogenous solution to this dilemma. By combining transaction cost and social exchange theories within the institutional collective action framework, we investigate how local governments themselves address inefficiencies from externalities and economies of scale. An empirical …

Explaining Local Government Cooperation On Public Works: Evidence From Michigan, Kelly Leroux, Jered B. Carr

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

In recent years, analysts have begun to study cooperation on public services among local governments. These studies have often concluded that services with scale economies are likely candidates for shared service delivery. This article contributes to the emerging literature on this topic by examining interlocal service arrangements for ten public works services in Michigan. Despite the fact that public works exhibit substantial scale economies, many local governments do not cooperate on these services. Empirical studies of local government contracting suggest four groups of factors that may help explain why local governments opt to collaborate on public services: local economic factors, …

Do Special Districts Act Alone?: Exploring The Relationship Between Flexible Boundaries And Intergovernmental Cooperation, Megan Mullin

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Special districts have been seen as a formalized institution for promoting regional cooperation. They allow boundary design to the scale of public problems and may produce greater efficiency in the marketplace for local public goods. Many scholars also have highlighted the flexibility of special district boundaries once established, arguing that this flexibility allows for governance that is more adaptable to changing resource constraints and patterns of demand. While flexible boundaries might promote special districts’ ability to internalize spillovers while acting alone, it might impede more ad hoc forms of cooperation among localities. This paper presents evidence that boundary change is …

Justifying Interlocal Cooperation: Feasibility Studies, Financing And Cost Allocation, Art Holdsworth

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This White Paper overviews the obstacles and benefits to interlocal collaboration on public services. A major emphasis is placed on understanding the preparation of feasibility studies and the issues involved in allocating the costs of shared services among communities.

Exploring Interlocal Cooperation In Public Safety: An Annotated Bibliography , Shanthi Mohankumar

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This bibliography summarizes fourteen studies of interlocal collaboration in fire and/or police services. It directs scholars to research materials that examine the patterns of cooperation and relative financial and other advantages (if any) of contracting out these services to other governments. It also includes studies related to the consolidation of police and fire services. Though not exhaustive, this collection of studies includes materials from different time periods and with diverse approaches.

Counting Competitors: Relative Gains And Cooperation In Metropolitan America, Skip Krueger

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

No abstract provided.

The Business Case For Interlocal Cooperation, Art Holdsworth

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

No abstract provided.

The Distributional Consequences Of Interlocal Agreement Cost Allocation Strategies, Eric A. Scorsone

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

In an era of fiscal stress for many local governments in the United States, intergovernmental cooperation has become a focus for cost savings. Cooperation and consolidation is a recognition that existing boundaries and service delivery mechanism simply are too inefficient and burdensome for a community to maintain. City and county officials face a basic tradeoff in assessing the merits of cooperation involving the desire of many citizens for sovereignty and local decision making authority versus the potential cost savings associated with the economies of scale of larger government units. As intergovernmental agreements are negotiated, the issue of cost allocation among …

Policy Networks And Institutional Collective Action: A Research Agenda, John T. Scholz, Richard C. Feiock, T. K. Ahn

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Policy fragmentation in the American federalist system leads to inefficiencies as decisions by one authority impose positive and negative externalities on other authorities and their constituencies. We focus on the role of policy networks in shaping coordinated decisions that enhance the joint outcomes among governmental authorities. We advance two competing perspectives relating networks to collective action, one emphasizing the role of tightly-clustered "strong-tie" relationships capable of enhancing the credibility of commitments among network members, and the other emphasizing the role of extensive, "weak-tie" relationships linking diverse stakeholders in enhancing the shared information required to coordinate collective decisions.

Our previous projects …

City Council Members And The Representation Funtion In Intergovernmental Decision Making, Eric Zeemering

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Local elected officials provide a representation function for their constituents, expressing citizen preferences for public goods and services and integrating public preferences into government decisions about how to provide and produce public goods and services. In an increasingly networked world, the provision and production of public goods and services frequently occurs through intergovernmental collaboration and inter-local agreements. Public administrators are often viewed as the primary actors in forming intergovernmental agreements, but what role do elected officials play in policy decisions about collaboration? I argue elected officials’ representation function in intergovernmental policymaking can be conceptualized through the analysis of three dimensions …

Interlocal Services Cooperation: Bridging Public Management And Metropolitan Governance?, Jered B. Carr

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

No abstract provided.

List Of Abstracts, Creating Collaborative Communities Conference, Jered B. Carr

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

No abstract provided.

The Nature Of Metropolitan Governance In Urban America: A Study Of Cooperation, Conflict, And Avoidance In The Kansas City Region, Curtis H. Wood

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

In this study I determine the dominant pattern of governance in the Kansas City metro based on interviews with 46 city administrative officers in cities over 2,500 in population. Consistent with theories of cooperation, I found that the dominant governance strategy is intergovernmental cooperation in the delivery of public services punctuated by conflict and avoidance/defection when intergovernmental service delivery arrangements involve infrequent interaction between the parties and when the presence and influence of the regional council of government is minimal.

Public Administration And Shared Power: Understanding Governance, Networks, And Partnerships, H. George Frederickson, David Matkin

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Starting with the “consolationist” and “fragmentationist” arguments in American local government and contemporary patterns of increasing jurisdictional cooperation and regionalization, this paper examines patterns of jurisdictional cooperation and power sharing in metropolitan regions, and analyses the influence of extrajurisdictional benefits on local government decisions to engage in regional agreements. Our findings are based on a survey of local government officials in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. Cooperation is examined using an Axelrod-type prisoner’s dilemma scenario. Participants include elected officials, chief administrative officers, and department-level administrators—Police Chiefs, Parks and Recreation Directors, Fire Chiefs, and Public Works Directors. Results point to differences …

Interlocal Contractual Arrangements In The Provision Of Public Safety, Simon A. Andrew

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

The range of interlocal contractual arrangements in the realm of public safety in Florida provides a research site to examine the extent to which these arrangements have been used by local governments. We developed a contractual perspective on interlocal contractual arrangements as relational contracts by arguing that their institutional designs are partly an effort of involved parties to reduce transaction costs that are the product of the properties of the services themselves; and partly by state statutes that allowed mix approaches to contractual arrangements. A relational contract is advantageous because it specified the activities to be rendered without unnecessarily intruding …

Characteristics Of Service, Structure Of Networks, And Forms Of Inter-Local Cooperation In Local Service Production: Evidence From Florida, Manoj Shrestha

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This paper empirically examines the interrelationships between service characteristics and the structure of networks among local jurisdictions using relational data across a set of diverse services from Pinellas County in Florida. In metropolitan areas, cities as well as counties work together to become increasingly efficient in public service delivery, and hence, engage into a variety of cooperative arrangements such as bilateral or multilateral service agreements. Increasing restraints on jurisdictions’ fiscal capacity have further forced them to look for cooperative avenues. Extant literature suggests that types of public goods and services determine the choice of service production. Policy/management network scholars argue …

Which Local Governments Cooperate On Public Safety?: Lessons From Michigan, Jered B. Carr, Kelly Leroux

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

Despite the increased interest in voluntary services cooperation, little is known about the factors that encourage local governments to enter into collaborative services arrangements with each other. This paper addresses this question through an analysis of interlocal contracting arrangements for police and fire services reported by 464 local governments in Michigan. While the contracting of public services is increasing common in local governments across the country, collaborations on police and fire services have proved far more difficult to achieve. Public safety contracting presents a dilemma for public managers. On one hand, local governments devote a substantial part of their budgets …

Cooperative Municipal Service Provision: A Political-Economy Framework For Understanding Intergovernmental Cooperation, Elisabeth R. Gerber, Clark C. Gibson

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

We develop and apply a theoretical framework for understanding how local governments respond to the perceived costs and benefits of intergovernmental cooperation. Our theory connects local government decisions to economic and political costs and benefits at both the local and regional levels, as well as the institutional context in which collaborative decisions take place. We develop and test hypotheses with data from a sample of regional councils. We find preliminary support for our institutional, local, and regional hypotheses

Elements Of Successful Interlocal Agreements: An Iowa Case Study , Kurt Thurmaier

Working Group on Interlocal Services Cooperation

This paper explores the factors that contribute to successful interlocal agreements. Success is defined in terms of achieving agreement objectives, increasing the effectiveness of the public service, and increasing the efficiency of the public service. Influential factors of interest include the reason the interlocal agreement was created, the estimated costs and benefits of participation in the agreement, and the types and levels of communication between the parties to the agreement. The paper reports results from a survey of local governments (including cities, counties, school districts) in Iowa that have filed an agreement with the state. The sample of about 1250 …