The elected chief executives of three Lake Country municipalties agreed Tuesday night to explore the feasibility of sharing the costs of administering government and delivering services in their respective communities.
The elected leaders of the villages of Merton and Sussex and the Town of Lisbon said cost sharing may be one way the three municipalities can control costs while maintaining, or improving, the delivery of services.
They met in the conference room of the Village of Sussex Fire Department along with one elected member from each community's governing board to explore the possibility of sharing services and costs.
The group agreed to meet again in early October to discuss each communities proposed 2009 budget and whether costs for specific goods and services within those budgets can be shared.
For example, the municipalities may be able to reduce road maintenance costs by including all of their road repair projects on a single bid letting, according to Sussex Village President Tony Lapcinski.
Lapcinski said the municipalities should also explore sharing the purchase of supplies and equipment and possibly creating a health insurance consortium.
Lisbon Town Chairman Michael Reed added that the municipalities should also explore sharing financial, legal, planning, engineering and tax assessment consultants rather than the municipalities each hiring different contractors to provide the services.
Lisbon Town Supervisor Joe Osterman added the municipalities could save money by sharing, rather than duplicating, the purchase and use of expensive fire, emergency medical, and public works equipment.
Merton Village President Bob Weber said state and county authorities are expecting villages and towns to provide more services without giving the municipalities additional revenues to pay for the added services.
Merton Village Trustee Ron Reinowski added that constituents are expecting a higher level of service from the local governments but will not support tax increases to pay for them.
"If our three small communities do not cooperate and work together more, we are going to be in trouble in the future, we may not make it," Weber said.
The group appeared to rule out the three communities merging into a larger, single municipality or consolidating some of the municipal service departments.
Sussex Village Trustee Gregory Goetz said the committee would be wasting its time discussing merging the communities or "trying to close down a fire department, or getting everybody to work out of one public works garage, because they are not going to happen."
"We have to start by taking little steps," he said.