If you missed it this morning, check out the letter from Doug Anderson, president of Peninsula Village Council. I would only point out that no one is suggesting any fire-station closing that would result in an increase of response time. But pointing that out is not to detract from the other points he makes in this letter.

Ohio Senators have deleted a provision of the proposed state budget that would have encouraged collaboration by local governments.

The $50 million fund allowed grants of up to $250,000 to finance combinations such as joint dispatch centers and consolidated fire districts.

Alex Keleman suggests that not all efforts to consolidate services are necessary. If you haven't read the June 14 blog entry, I suggest you read it first.

Local goverment consolidation may not save operating costs

Sorry for the long layoff, as a general assignment reporter, I'm often sent off on other tasks.

This site was nominated by Alex Keleman because it inspired him to do his own look at consolidation and whether it really saves money. He's also on Hudson's library board and suggests no all potential combinations will save money. His study will be posted tomorrow. It might take you all day to digest this lengthy report sponsored by The Samuel H. and Maria Miller Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The Greater Cleveland Partnership, The Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, The Fund for Our Economic Future.

Governments looking for new ways to lose the weight of increased costs might want to check out SkinnyOhio,a site by Auditor Dave Yost promoting collaborative services.

Here's what it says about a local program:

I haven't heard of anybody copyrighting cost-savings ideas in government, so feel free to filch any ideas you see on Ohio Auditor Dave Yost's Shared Services Idea Center. I suggest you click on other areas of the state to see what they are doing and if you see something you like, please give me a call so I can help you share your experiences.

And if you want quick alerts to changes on this blog, follow me on Twitter at Davescottofakro (there is no N). I try to add something every work day.