and the consolidation of Nashville and
Davidson County in 1962.5.
II. Techniques of Functional Change.
Techniques for geographic change, while
they have resolved urban problems to
some degree in some areas, are often
politically difficult or sensitive ap-
proaches to urban change. For this
reason, a variety of other techniques
which focus on functional roles and
intergovernmental relations rather than
on boundaries have been developed and
used successfully to resolve urban service
problems.
Techniques for the modification of
functional roles and relationships among
existing local governments are designed
to insure the availability of basic services
to all residents and communities, re-
gardless of their location within or
between local governmental boundaries.
They also focus on such continuing
problems as those of functional duplica-
tion, overlapping or competitive juris-
dictions, or the absence of basic services
in urban and outlying areas.
Among the most frequently utilized
techniques for local urban service co-
ordination and performance is the inter-
governmental service contract, which
permits local governments to contract
with other local governmental units or
authorities for selected urban services.
This approach is particularly relevant
for such "system-based" services as those
of water supply and sewage removal
services, or for those which require sub-
stantial equipment or special facilities,
such as trash disposal or incineration
facilities. Variations of the contract
approach include intergovernmental
agreements, both formal and informal,
5 bollens & schmandt, supra note 3, at
433.
252
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which permit the joint purchase and
utilization of major equipment; the joint
recruitment, training, or utilization of
special personnel; and the cooperative
initiation and funding of studies, plan-
ning efforts, and pilot projects. Each of
these techniques permits each unit of
local government to more fully utilize
its own financial and other resources for
its residents. Each permits the retention
of local authority for program direction,
while resolving substantially the prob-
lems of separate, duplicative, and com-
petitive services at the local level.
Another functional technique often
proposed as a means for extending basic
services to all residents of an area, re-
gardless of location, is that of extra-
territorial jurisdiction, which permits
the extension of specific municipal
powers and services to areas beyond its
boundaries. Ordinarily, this technique
involves an extension of a municipality's
authority to plan, zone, and establish
subdivision regulations for a prescribed
area surrounding its boundaries, and
may include the extension of basic urban
services into unincorporated areas on a
contractual or scheduled fee basis. This
technique is often utilized when a
change in municipal boundaries is not
immediately feasible.
An increasingly recommended ap-
proach to providing urban services in
rapidly growing areas is the urban
county plan, which authorizes a county
to play a major role in urban planning
and services. The county's role may
either preempt or be concurrent with
the urban service roles of the munici-
palities within its boundaries. In Mary-
land, the county in numerous instances
has already become a major urban pro-
gram unit. In some instances, the
county's role is concurrent and comple-
mentary to that of major municipalities,
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