• Cha-ching: Could property taxes go down? Could they at least not go up?

• More glamour and opportunity as one big city. Combined, L-A might outnumber Portland in the next decade.

• More efficient government operations and, eventually, fewer employees. (Savings.)

• Your Lewiston house is on fire. Auburn’s trucks are closer, they respond first. Yeah! That few minutes shaved off response time might save your house – or your life.

• Potential kudos for bucking a trend – more communities in Maine split up than get together. Who doesn’t want to be a glowing, progressive poster child?

• Bigger population might mean better bond/credit rating. Dry stuff, but it saves money.

Working in its favor

• Impending vacancies in Auburn (superintendent, city manager) may nudge talks along more quickly than one might expect.

• Hello, John Jenkins. Former Lewiston mayor, current Auburn mayor.

• Dover-Foxcroft didn’t agree to a merge until women got the right to vote and decided enough already. The Twin Cities have slightly more women then men, according to the U.S. Census.

• The Twin Cities have gotten the most state money of any community to study the issue, and they’ve floated the most ambitious plan. People are watching and rooting.

• You don’t even need Legislative approval to merge. Plus, each community keeps its own old debt, according to statute. That’s one contentious issue off the table.

• There’s no discounting history: 150 years of working together. (See timeline.)

• In 1996 and 2006, separate polls found most residents favored more cooperation.

Disadvantages

• Savings? Don’t expect them right away.

• And on that note: it’ll likely cost more in the short-term. One city’s got to raise its employees’ salaries to match the other. There might be new network/software/equipment to purchase to make L and A more compatible.

• City-city consolidation doesn’t happen that often in the U.S. Is that a cautionary tale?

Potential Snags

• Fear of the unknown. Face it, change is scary.

• Got endurance? It’s not uncommon for consolidation efforts to take three, four or five tries to work.

• Various unions have got to agree – no guarantee of harmony there.

• Concerns about loss of identity.

• No layoffs? OK, so how do two police chiefs, fire chiefs, etc. work together?

• Auburn is two-thirds the size of Lewiston. Smaller cities have a track record of developing a “the big guy wants me to pay his bills and bail him out” complex.

• Who cares? People are most motivated to change the status quo by a shake-up (someone’s hand caught in cookie jar, scandal, deadly fire.) We haven’t had that.

• Could failed discussions rub Lewiston or Auburn the wrong way? If things don’t work out, one side might pack up their things and go home.

• It’s got to feel win-win for both, on equal terms, and how likely is that, down to the dollar?

• People feel vested in their job or elected position – why would they suggest eliminating themselves?

Based on interviews with a more than 20 city managers, government analysts and people involved in consolidation talks across the country.

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