State Rep: Regionalization Of Public Services

As a way to inform our readers about the candidates, Patch asked the two candidates for state tepresentative five questions that focused on topics affecting Marblehead. 

There has been talk at the local and state level of implementing greater regionalization of services. One possible area is regionalizing public safety. Do you support regionalizing public safety? 

Rep. Lori Ehrlich (D)

From an 'economies of scale' perspective, regionalizing of services makes sense. When deciding what to regionalize, we must keep in mind that local government exists for a reason and that is to provide local service.

But especially for small towns, there is often too much redundancy in a small geographic area and teaming up with surrounding communities is often prudent.  If a service is identified to regionalize in order to save money, as a community we will need to weigh that savings against any compromises in terms of service and safety. 

Dr. Kate Kozitza (R)

Local officials are generally reluctant to cede control of their cities and towns to anyone. This autonomy is something that, as a general rule, I support.  

But there are certain times, particularly during a very shaky economic climate, when cost-saving measures are not only prudent, but critical. All across the commonwealth, localities are walking a budgetary tight-rope.  

Costs are going up, but funding is suffering and will likely continue to suffer. Marblehead, like anywhere else, should always be looking for creative ways to save money, rather than merely contemplating how to spend it.  

One major example of this is the need to promote regionalization of pension and health care costs. Some towns will shave over one million dollars per year from their budget if the health care insurance offered to town workers happens at the state level rather than locally. The same can be said for pensions.  

Whenever financial and insurance instruments are negotiated for a larger number of people, it stands to reason that costs will go down.

Right now, taxpayers need all the savings they can get, and cutting out the collective bargaining process on health care and pensions, which typically represent an enormous part of a city or town's budget, can accomplish that. 

My opponent has raised nearly half of her money from unions. Unions are vehemently opposed to anything like plan design, in spite of the fact that it could save taxpayers vast amounts of money.  

Should I be elected state representative for this district, one of the first things I would do would be to work to pass plan design legislation so that cities and towns are able to select options that will be beneficial to all of their residents, rather than just beneficial to the union representing city or town workers.