UB Institute Announces Round 2 of Shared Services Program For School Districts And Municipalities

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Building on the spring success of the first round of the 1998 Statewide Shared Services Program (SSSP) for School Districts and Municipalities, the University at Buffalo Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth has announced that a second round of incentive grants will be available to school district-municipal partnerships this fall.

The SSSP is a pilot program developed under the aegis of the New York State Senate Committee on Local Government, chaired by Sen. Mary Lou Rath. Funded by Senate appropriations totaling $700,000 and administered by the Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth, the program seeks to encourage collaborations between municipalities and school districts that promote more effective use of tax dollars.

"We started this effort in Western New York with a $180,000 demonstration project two years ago," said Rath, "and statewide interest justified the creation of this 1998 pilot program.

"The results so far are extremely promising. The partnerships in the demonstration project and the first round of the statewide program have already identified and pursued opportunities for hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings to taxpayers," she said. "Especially for smaller municipalities and school districts, such savings can represent a significant part of the tax base."

The first round of the program, conducted earlier this year, attracted 41 applications from municipal-school district partnerships around the state, competing for grants from a $350,000 Senate appropriation.

Awards were announced in June for 13 partnerships in 12 counties from Western New York to the Adirondacks to Long Island, with grant amounts ranging from $8,500 to $30,000. The 13 collaborative school-municipal projects, in areas ranging from fuel-and-energy management

to shared information technology to joint capital improvements, are now under way.

Round 2 reopens the SSSP competition this fall, with $350,000 in additional Senate appropriations available. Eligible partnerships must include at least one municipality (defined as a county, borough, city, town or village in New York State) and at least one school district. All applications will be due at the institute by 5 p.m. on Nov. 16.

"The SSSP offers an invaluable statewide opportunity to test the proposition that collaboration between public-service entities such as municipalities and school districts is effective, both for individual partners and for their larger communities," noted John B. Sheffer, II, institute director.

"Many such collaborations have been in place, in Western New York and throughout New York State, for a number of years. The SSSP helps both to encourage new collaborations and, indirectly, to bring attention to the value of those that already exist.

"Our institute is proud to administer this program. We believe it is an important step towards strengthening our communities and our state."

Guidelines for SSSP applications, application forms and additional information are available from the institute at 716-829-3777, and on the institute's Web site at .