Master of Public Affaires students in the School of Planning & Public Affairs conducted a study for the cities of West Burlington and Burlington that explores opportunities for shared services, with a focus on providing efficient and cost effective services to their residents.  

City leaders in West Burlington (pop. 3,162) and Burlington (pop. 23,611) requested a study exploring opportunities to share/merge some local government department-level services. Rather than each community providing essential services individually, strategic collaboration may result in significant cost savings and enhanced quality of services to residents.  One community partner stated that “Burlington and West Burlington are essentially one community except for a boundary that separates the two.”  

Elected officials and city staff have recognized the benefits of working more closely together to provide efficient and quality services to their residents and have taken proactive steps toward working more collaboratively, including holding a join council meeting. Changes at the Iowa state legislature have also influenced this effort- new legislation has put limits on the revenue generation abilities of municipalities in the State of Iowa via capping property tax increases and consolidation levies. The limits for municipalities have prompted them to think strategically about how to provide services. 

The MPA Project Team Shared explored opportunities for the City of Burlington and City of West Burlington to collaborate or share municipal services. Utilizing three different analyses, the group recommends further exploration into incremental collaboration between the two communities to protect community identity and ensure cost efficient provision of services.

The team created a decision-making tool that guided the research of opportunities for collaboration, utilizing a five-point tool that guided the analysis. The tool asked the group to think about current and future capital purchases, staffing needs, concerns regarding quality of service, whether shared service provision is cost efficient, and how shared services impact community identity and political feasibility. To gather the proper information for the decision-making tool, the group conducted a literature and case study review, financial analysis, and interviews with department leaders in both communities. 

The final report includes assessment of shared services opportunities at the departmental level as well as more broad recommendations about next steps for the communities.