Service Sharing
Innovations in service sharing have led governments to join together to explore ways to continue to deliver quality services and cut costs. Often when jurisdictions share services or join together to contract for a service, opportunities arise to take advantage of economies of scale. Service swapping can also be beneficial, as can consolidation, when the conditions are appropriate.
Management Partners has had success providing in-depth analysis, facilitating service sharing discussions among two or more jurisdictions, and crafting service level agreements. Once we identify opportunities, we can provide implementation planning to assure a successful transition to the new service delivery method.
Our successes with this service include the projects highlighted below.
Cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV
These two neighboring jurisdictions had previously explored and implemented a variety of operational changes and resulting expenditure reductions to balance their budgets, yet the economic situation required that they do more. Management Partners undertook a comprehensive review of government services to identify the most beneficial opportunities for service sharing and cost reductions. Subsequent to the initial government-wide scan, we completed in-depth analyses in seven selected service areas: workers' compensation, recreational programming, purchasing, radio maintenance, detention center support services, fire plan check/fire code enforcement and traffic operations. Estimated savings from service sharing in these areas range from $4.2 million to $5.6 million.
Alameda County Transportation Commission, CA (formerly Alameda County Congestion Management Agency and Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority)
In this multi-phased project, Management Partners initially completed a study that identified both service sharing and consolidation opportunities between the two major transportation agencies in Alameda County. The threshold analysis determined that a merger of the two agencies would produce ongoing savings of up to $1 million per year while, most importantly, continuing delivery of all mission critical responsibilities. Management Partners then completed a Merger Implementation Plan, which provided the steps and general timing for the actions needed to merge the staff and business activities of the separate agencies into a single organization under a new Joint Powers Authority.
Hamilton County, OH and 50 Local Jurisdictions
This special project, funded by Hamilton County, the City of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Business Committee, hired Management Partners to analyze opportunities to share services and find greater efficiency among the 50 local governments in the county. Management Partners conducted interviews with elected and appointed officials, held focus groups with managers, and conducted independent research to identify new service delivery ideas. The goal was to help local governments save money and continue delivering quality services to both internal customers and to their residents. Jurisdictions realized an estimated $1.5 million in annual savings after the first phase of work. We then completed additional analyses to evaluate the shared use of heavy equipment, code enforcement, tax administration and emergency communications. Several projects are being implemented.
“When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy |
