"United We Save" – that was the goal of Westchester County's Shared Municipal Service Expo that County Executive Robert P. Astorino hosted recently at the Westchester County Center. The event was an opportunity for local governments, schools and other districts to find out about how they may be able to save taxpayer dollars by sharing the services of the county government – and vice versa.   

"As county executive, I know the constant challenge of keeping expenses – and taxes – down as we try to provide more and better services to our residents," Astorino said. "Governments, schools and special districts at all levels can benefit from sharing services and our expertise."

These services range from purchasing, printing, information technology, planning and public safety – among many others. Attendees will be able to talk directly to representatives of various county departments to discuss the needs of their government or district.

In addition, attendees were invited to workshops and to watch a presentation about the county Department of Planning's newly enhanced Westchester 2025 Web site. This section of the county Web site has extensive tools to assist municipalities with local planning, including census data, maps, current and historic aerial photos and street-level photos.

Find out more from the program flier and the Shared Municipal Service Expo booklet of Tuesday's event. Additional synopses of department's shared services can be found on County Shared Services.

The Expo had these components:

• Westchester 2025 Web site: Westchester County's Planning Department unveiled the latest enhancements to Westchester 2025: Plan Together. The planning staff will show the many new tools that provide visioning capabilities, which have a multitude of uses at the local level for planning, economic development and other purposes. There was a morning workshop focusing on the site.
  
  
• Expo: Representatives from 15 county departments set up displays to educate participants on the wide variety of services local governments, schools and other districts can share with the county. The 2011 Shared Municipal Services Reference Guide was distributed. This highlights 22 new shared services being offered. These run the gambit from information technology, printing, purchasing, emergency planning...and more.
  
  
• Afternoon Workshop: There was a panel discussion aimed at fostering collaboration on a variety of subjects including issues related to schools, procurement and information technology.