By ROGER AMSDEN, LACONIA DAILY SUNLACONIA — Belknap County Commissioners agreed that regionalization of fire and police departments within the county has the potential to save taxpayers money and say that it will be one of the issues they hope to explore further during the budget discussions in the months ahead. He said that Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid has already regionalized fire services from an operational standpoint but not from an organizational standpoint. Commissioner Hunter Taylor (R-Alton) supported DeVoy's suggestion, which came at the opening of a budget review session by commissioners Wednesday afternoon. You can make the argument that the failure to regionalize services has already cost taxpayers a lot of money,” said Taylor. The report issued by the Sanbornton committee which DeVoy chaired said that towns in the county are being placed in an unsustainable position due to the lack of progress on the issue and that someone like the County Commissioners needs to take a leadership role in pushing for regionalization.

Source: Daily Sun October 19, 2017 07:30 UTC