In this era of belt-tightening small towns are increasingly using partnerships to trim their budgets.
A pair of surveys conducted by the New Hampshire Municipal Association finds that a trend of sharing services is growing.
Over half of New Hampshire municipalities participated, and 40 percent of respondents share ambulance and EMT services.
Not unexpectedly many small towns share things like transfer stations and parks and recreation departments.
The study’s author, Chris Porter, says that towns have to weigh carefully if cooperation on things like policing and ambulances will reduce the quality of services offered.
He says that the New Hampshire Municipal Association hopes to help communities create more partnerships going forward.