Project: ADMINISTRATIVE COST SHARING IN THE BALTIMORE METROPOLITAN AREA

Sponsor: Abell Foundation through Baltimore Efficiency and Economy Foundation
Status: In process
IPS Staff: Marsha R.B. Schachtel

Purpose and Approach
In the continuing search for efficiencies in their operations, local governments in the Baltimore metropolitan area are looking at cooperation, both within local government and among localities.

Within the boundaries of Baltimore City and the five metropolitan counties, administrative functions are carried out by not only the general governments, but also the school systems, community colleges, and sometimes libraries. Within several of the counties, most notably Carroll County, town governments also support administrative infrastructure. A number of the localities have been experimenting with structural changes that allow them to perform services such as printing, warehousing, and training on behalf of other units of government, and with the collaborative purchasing of goods and services, including banking, intra-locally. Through the Baltimore Metropolitan Council’s Baltimore Regional Cooperative Purchasing Committee, the localities (including school systems) have also achieved cost savings by combining requirements into intergovernmental cooperative contracts.

The leaders of the local governments in the metropolitan area agree that they can build on these initiatives and learn from each other and best practices elsewhere about proven cooperative approaches to administrative efficiency. Toward that end, their administrative representatives were convened in spring 2005 to discuss their experiences and explore options.

Results
Participants in the roundtable agreed to continue to further explore these issues: a collaboratively managed service bureau to perform tasks on behalf of several agencies, and opportunities for savings related to school design and construction.

Publications
Forthcoming.