December 18, 2020
The New York State County-Wide Shared Services Initiative (CWSSI), enacted in 2017 and amended in 2019, encourages local governments to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in potential cost savings through government collaboration, cooperation, and the mutual use of resources. The initiative requires the chief elected officer in each county to convene a panel of local leaders (the Shared Service Panel) to develop a plan that identifies opportunities for local governments, fire districts, fire protection districts, school districts, Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), and special improvement districts to share services and save taxpayer dollars. The CWSSI Law encourages local governments to engage in “multi-year planning [with annual amendments] … identifying all potential property tax saving actions and a timeline for their undertaking.” The state has appropriated $225 million in matching funds for local governments that implement their plans and achieve property tax savings.
Nassau County’s 2019-20 Shared Services and Taxpayer Savings Plan (2019-20 Plan) significantly expanded its original 2017 Plan. The county government undertook a wide-reaching planning process that involved surveys and interviews of every chief elected local government leader in the county, often assisted by staff, as well as leaders of interested school districts, BOCES, library districts, and local government associations. Local government leaders from all sectors of Nassau County government used the results of these surveys and interviews as the basis for focused discussions and to develop a practical plan for significant property tax savings.
The 2019-20 Plan identified six initiatives that were projected to produce nearly $30 million in recurring property tax savings by 2022 (three additional projects were identified but were not accompanied with property tax savings estimates because they were preliminary proposals that required additional development). The 2019-20 Plan also included projects that were earlier identified in the county’s 2017 Plan, but which had not yet been implemented. The primary proposal in the 2017 Plan was the consolidation of Nassau County’s and the city of Long Beach’s wastewater treatment services, which was expected to yield an estimated savings of more than $128 million once completed.
