Despite state laws limiting cooperation among municipalities, communities around the state are finding new and unique ways of working together to deliver essential services, share costs and streamline their governments.
On April 10, 2008, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania presented testimony to the joint Senate Committee hearing. As Tom Scott, counsel to 10,000 Friends, noted in making the case to modernize the Commonwealth’s outdated and restrictive county and municipal service mandates and taxing powers, “To use a construction metaphor, it’s as if each local government has a wheelbarrow, but what’s really needed is a dump truck.” To read the full text of the testimony, please
click here.
"Our communities have outgrown the boundaries that divide them", October 4, 2007
When 10,000 Friends Board Member Terry Kauffman addressed the House Urban Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Cities, Third Class, he said, "Crime serves as a good example of a problem that does not respect municipal boundaries. More and more suburban municipalities that once considered themselves havens of security now find themselves fighting crime problems that spill over from nearby cities and boroughs. Yet police departments are divided by arbitrary boundaries that keep them from working together effectively. Too often, a suspect wanted for armed robbery in one municipality will be pulled over for a traffic violation in a neighboring municipality and released because the two police departments are not communicating effectively." Click here for the full testimony, presented by Kauffman, manager of the Borough of Mount Joy.
New Cumberland Isn't Joining, But That Shouldn't Kill the Idea, Harrisburg Patriot-News, October 9, 2007
"New Cumberland Borough Council tiptoed to the water's edge but couldn't dive into the future by joining a regional police department.
Though the issues that prompted those in the 4-3 council vote to oppose it are legitimate, we think it's unfortunate the borough won't be joining Lemoyne and Wormleysburg in West Shore Regional Police."
DEAR READER: Cooperation Makes for Better Government, New Castle News, October 1, 2007
"If economies of scale work in the private sector, why can’t they work in the public sector? Actually, they can — if they are properly managed."
Municipal Cooperation Starts with Change in Law, Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, October 2, 2007
"Luzerne County can't compete.
When it comes to enticing new businesses to the area, ensuring top-notch police protection, brainstorming comprehensive plans for flood control and handling other major issues, the county is too splintered into tiny municipalities to respond quickly and decisively.
Why should this matter to you?"
Expanding the Meaning of Common Good, Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, October 2, 2007
"David Rusk can’t boast the best hearing – he bears the trademark round plastic device on his skull for a cochlear implant – but his vision proves crisp and far-sighted.
The former mayor of Albuquerque and peripatetic proponent of regionalization presents a potent case, if you take off your provincial blinders and allow your own view to broaden a bit.
Municipal boundaries become meaningless in daily activities, Rusk argued. With so many small boroughs and townships in our area, people often sleep in one, work in another, shop in a third. “You live your lives crossing municipal lines every day.”
Easing Fragmentation Would Aid Development, Harrisburg Patriot-News, August 23, 2007
"Beyond Pennsylvania's business tax climate, the problem is in the national as well as international marketplace. Coprorate decision makers largely do not know about the Harrisburg region or central Pennsylvania. Part of the problem is our historica parochial nature while another part is the relative health of the local economy."
Regional Insight: Too many towns spoil the economy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 5, 2007
"If you like government, the Pittsburgh region is the place to be. We have more than 1,000 separate governmental entities in the 10-county region: 10 counties, 286 cities and boroughs, 262 townships, 126 school districts, and 389 "special districts," i.e., water and sewer authorities, airport authorities, etc."
Metro-York Offers Preview, Sees Support for Regional Plans, Central Penn Business Journal, March 9, 2007
"The civic group Metro-York is likely to propose some form of tax-base sharing, greater public-safety cooperation and a regional forum for land-use planning when it makes formal recommendations this summer, co-chair Eric Menzer said."
Key Area Issues Ignore Municipal Boundaries, York Dispatch, March 8, 2007
"Crime, traffic and stormwater runoff. What do they have in common? All are issues in the metropolitan York area that ignore municipal boundaries."
Outdated Laws Bar Cooperation, York Dispatch, February 21, 2007
"The results of the survey by the Campaign to Renew Pennsylvania should provide a spur to area legislators to start now to update state laws to ease the way for local governments to reach common goals."
Cranberry is the Newest Member of Council of Governments, North Hills Monthly Magazine, January 2007
"The idea began in the colonial times of this country. It is similar to the idea of neighbor helping neighbor, but in this case, it's whole communities helping other communities."
