Intergovernmental Agreement Defined
An intergovernmental agreement is any agreement that involves or is made between two or more governments to cooperate in some specific way.
1 Purpose
Most intergovernmental agreements are made to upgrade services, consolidate resources and save money through economies of scale.
2 Scope
Intergovernmental agreements can be made between or among a broad range of governmental or quasi-governmental entities, such as two or more counties, two or more municipalities, a municipality and a school district, and a city and a university.
3 Example 1
A typical intergovernmental agreement might involve a contract between two small cities to share police, fire and paramedic services.
4 Example 2
Two counties agree to share library services, issuing a joint library card and swapping books back and forth. The full services of every library in the system are available to all card-holding residents of both counties.
5 Benefits
Intergovernmental agreements can improve services, save money through economies of scale, and lead to a culture of inter-community cooperation in many areas.
6 Drawbacks
Intergovernmental agreements, by consolidating resources, can reduce local control. This loss of some local control, combined with, in some cases, longer emergency response times, can produce a voter backlash, especially if not accompanied by commensurate local tax reductions.
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