Sharing of Public Works Services by Small Towns

Abstract

Many federal initiatives now being considered are aimed at increasing the fiscal responsibilities of local and county governments in providing public works services. However, the feasibility of providing the necessary mix of public works in small towns is not easily accomplished, and there is a need to assess and evaluate the efficiency of the delivery of these services when they are offered. A method advocated to increase small town and rural county government efficiency in delivering such services is to share them with other towns, cities, and counties. A survey of Iowa communities was conducted to assess and analyze the extent of public works/services provision and sharing. The fundamental hypothesis is that the propensity to share services is a function of community size, which results in cost efficiencies in service provision. The results of the survey did not confirm this hypothesis. It may be that service sharing is more likely a function of organizational and institutional processes.