Stonington — In Gov.-elect Ned Lamont's first 100 days in office, his Shared Services Committee would like to see the appointment of an undersecretary of comprehensive planning and intergovernmental policy, the requirement that municipalities use the Uniform Chart of Accounts, and a shift in burden of proof for special education costs.

"Many towns are doing one or two kinds of collaborations — sharing a street sweeper, sharing an animal shelter — and those are terrific things," said Brendan Sharkey, co-chair of the committee and a former speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives. "The idea here is to think much, much bigger, and make it a way of life."

This committee is one of 15 transition policy committees that Lamont and Lt. Gov.-elect Susan Bysiewicz announced last month, with others focused on topics like jobs/economy, education and agriculture.

After meeting four times, the Shared Services Committee convened Tuesday morning at the Stonington Police Department to provide a public update on its work.

"The reason shared services have not worked as successfully as we wanted in the past is because there has not been leadership at the top," said Stonington First Selectman Rob Simmons, a member of the committee. "It's politically controversial, and past governors from both sides of the aisle have shied away from it."

Throughout the state this week, committees are presenting their recommendations and listening to feedback: Five met Monday and five Tuesday, with another five to convene Wednesday.

Lisa Tepper Bates, a consultant who is a member of the overarching Lamont-Bysiewicz Transition Steering Committee, said the next step is for the committees to incorporate feedback and finalize their memos to Lamont in January. Their work will then be posted publicly online.

United Way of Connecticut President Rick Porth, who serves as co-chair with Sharkey, said members of the Shared Services Committee didn't agree on every recommendation but came together in good faith.

Sharkey said the recommendations are data-driven and come from two primary policy goals: the need to "disrupt the way we typically think of how we provide local government," and to reduce reliance on the property tax.

High property taxes are the result of inefficient delivery of services at the local level, he said, and the state can't keep subsidizing such inefficiency.

The property tax, which makes up 42 percent of tax collection, has "dragged down our competitiveness," Sharkey said. "It's driving up our cost of living in the state of Connecticut. It's also regressive."

He noted that the accounting firm Blum Shapiro developed the Uniform Chart of Accounts to be an apples-to-apples system for comparing how municipalities spend their money.

Two problems are that the most recent data is from 2014, and that not all towns contribute, so one committee recommendation is to make participation mandatory. That way, state grants could be tied to how efficiently local governments are operating.

Sharkey said that Stonington will have no problem with this. For example, Simmons noted that the Stonington Police Department won an award this year from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities for its police radio upgrade project, which involves sharing resources with the state.

The committee also suggested increasing staffing for the Comprehensive Planning and Intergovernmental Policy Division, reviving the Advisory Council on Intergovernmental Relations, enhancing the role of councils of government, and removing obstacles to regionalization found in local charters and state mandates.

Another committee suggestion was to adopt separate tax rates for municipal governments and school boards.

"What we think we're going to get from that is more visibility on how tax dollars are being spent on the education side of the ledger," Sharkey said.

While North Stonington First Selectman Mike Urgo said many of the recommendations make sense, he disagreed on separating tax rates, saying he thinks "it's going to be very harmful to the collaborative spirit of the town and education working together."

Ledyard Mayor Fred Allyn III said if towns want to address combining dispatch services, they need to address employees of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.

In general, South Windsor Mayor Saud Anwar commented, "If there's an answer that's going to make everybody happy, it's not the right answer."

Other local town heads in attendance were New London Mayor Michael Passero and Groton Town Manager John Burt.

e.moser@theday.com