Collaboration among local governments occurs through a range of mechanisms, which vary in degree of formality from contracts and ad hoc agreements to full consolidation. Prior work indicates that local decision makers favor formal mechanisms when expected gains from less formal collaboration may not be realized. This article explicates the concept of collaboration risk, treating it as a product of the likelihood that collaboration fails and the severity of consequences should failure occur. We examine how characteristics of a local service contribute to collaboration risk and thereby influence the choice to consolidate service delivery. Focusing on the case of drinking water provision, we identify physical and financial features of service delivery that contribute to the likelihood and severity of collaboration failure. Drawing on seven case studies of water system consolidation, we then analyze the importance of these service characteristics in the choice to enter into consolidation agreements.
Investment in U.S. drinking water infrastructure is not keeping pace with need, contributing to water service failures that threaten public health, economic development, and community water security. Many explanations for lagging investment focus on the motivations of local elected officials, but those explanations are not rooted in research on elected officials’ own expressed views. We surveyed a representative nationwide sample of approximately 500 city and county officeholders about their perceptions of need for investment and barriers to meeting that need. Analysis of closed-ended and open-ended question responses reveals that the main barriers to investment are financial: incumbents weigh the cost of capital projects against the debt burden and affordability challenge created by those investments. Their concern about public opposition to rate increases is an important constraint on decisions to invest in water infrastructure. Our results also demonstrate disparities across communities in the perceived fiscal burden of water infrastructure. The great majority of elected officials expressed little concern about the condition of infrastructure in their own communities, but concern about infrastructure condition was positively correlated with concern about making investments, pointing to the financial stress for decision makers who bear the expense of deteriorating water systems.
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