In today’s world of budget deficits and tax cuts, local governments have few viable options to cut costs while maintaining quality of service. Municipal collaboration appears to be a practical solution. By working together, municipalities may be able to maintain or improve the quality of service and reduce costs at the same time.

In an effort to create an inventory of intergovernmental cooperative service agreements in southeastern Wisconsin, the Forum surveyed municipal leaders across the region. Our findings indicate that while many shared service agreements exist, not enough is known about them. Without better publicity and record-keeping, the result could be redundant or inefficient service agreements.