GORHAM – The town of Gorham has a history of forming alliances with neighboring communities to help save taxpayers cash.

Now, those efforts have been documented and highlighted in the Maine Municipal Association’s recently released Municipal Collaboration Report.

Christopher Lockwood, executive director at Maine Municipal Association, said that collaboration among towns and cities is a long-standing and perhaps underestimated practice that keeps municipalities functioning as effectively as possible and helps to control costs. The report cites 558 examples of collaboration in the state.

“We knew that municipal collaboration was widespread throughout the state, but even we were surprised to learn how many examples exist,” Lockwood said. “Municipalities in all 16 Maine counties reported examples of collaboration.”

Gorham’s cooperative ventures in firefighting with several neighboring communities impressed the report’s author.

“Gorham is a leader in what they’ve done in fire services,” Kate Dufour, Legislative advocate at the Maine Municipal Association who researched and authored the study, said last week.

“That’s nice to have that recognition,” Gorham Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre said Tuesday.

Gorham shares fire stations with Windham, Scarborough and Standish. Gorham has had the joint deal with Scarborough for about 30 years and the North Scarborough station houses Gorham’s Tank 1 truck, Lefebvre said.

Citing just one example of savings, Lefebvre said he received a bill this week for $700 that represents Gorham’s share for heat for a quarter of the year at the fire station in North Scarborough. Scarborough and Gorham both benefit from sharing expenses.

“It makes a good deal for everybody,” Lefebvre said.

By sharing a station with Scarborough, Gorham has coverage in its South Gorham area without building a small station of its own, which Lefebvre estimated would cost about $1.5 million to construct.

Agreements with neighboring towns have proven to be efficient, as well.

“We also share a mechanic for (fire and rescue) vehicles,” said Gorham Town Manager David Cole.

Lefebvre said other collaborative cost savings for Gorham taxpayers include physicals for firefighters, protective clothing and training.

“The sharing of equipment and manpower is really big,” he said.

Along with the shared stations, Gorham and Windham teamed up a few years ago to purchase a fire truck. Lefebvre said the cost of the truck was about $700,000.

“Those are all good examples of collaboration that saved money,” Cole said.

Besides sharing the station with Scarborough, Gorham partners at its station in North Gorham with Standish. In its Little Falls section, Gorham shares a fire station in South Windham.

In addition to shared stations, Gorham has a central station and ones in West Gorham and White Rock.

For several years, Gorham has augmented its fire personnel with a live-in program at its fire stations for college students pursuing careers in public safety. Students are provided free rooms in exchange for being available for emergency response during nighttime hours and to attend training.

Training in conjunction with area fire chiefs, Gorham hosts an annual fire attack school.

Gorham has been proactive in seeking other cost-saving. collaborative measures. Several years ago, Gorham outsourced its dispatching, consolidating services with the Cumberland County Regional Communications Center in Windham.

A year ago, Gorham assumed rescue billing services for the city of Westbrook, and that partnership has worked well for both municipalities.

Jerre Bryant, Westbrook city administrator, said the joint effort is less costly for Westbrook than in-house billing.

“It’s been seamless,” Bryant said about the transition.

Westbrook, in a cost-savings measure, has for six years contracted with South Portland for tax assessing services.

“It’s worked out beautifully from a cost standpoint and a service standpoint,” Bryant said.