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Facing potential declines in state education funding, seven Farmington Valley towns are looking for ways to save money by working together.

Leaders from Granby, East Granby, Simsbury, Farmington, Avon, Canton, and Burlington meet regularly to swap ideas and compare notes about governing in the Farmington Valley. This week's meeting aimed to take that a step further, to lay the groundwork to share resources and potentially staff. 

Mary Glassman is Simsbury's first selectman.

"We're suffocating, we're strangling. WE can go to the state and ask for more money, but they're in a worse situation than our towns are, so we have to come up with some ways that we can save some dollars."

They're surveying their town hall staffs for places to share positions. That could include human resources staff, dog wardens, computer experts, or regulators like building inspectors and engineers. They're also looking at other services - including emergency dispatch, trash pick-up - and library schedules, so if one local library closes on Sunday, it could point residents to a neighboring town.

Glassman says the idea is to trim costs while maintaining local services.

"Do we have extra capacity in some towns in some areas where those services might be cut?"

At this point, the towns are just at the brainstorming stage. Down the line, Granby town manager Bill Smith wants to make sure they can show residents that any collaborations will make a dent in their town's budget.

"A lot of times combining things costs more money. It might be more efficient, but it's not always cost-effective. And then you lose local control , which is an attitude that New England seems to have, and when you lose local control, they feel like they're not part of it."

The seven towns will meet again later this month, with an eye toward solidifying plans by mid-January, in time for their local budgeting process.