OUR VIEW: Regional cooperation is necessary

» SUMMARY: Culpeper County's trash deal with Rappahannock is a regional approach that serves the needs of two localities.

Earlier this month, Rappahannock County officials voted to enter into an agreement with Culpeper County to start hauling trash to a transfer station here.

Rappahannock found it would be more economical to pay Culpeper to handle the trash, rather than add to the landfill it currently uses in Amissville.

"We're saving the taxpayers money, which I think is always good, and we're putting our trash somewhere else, which seems to me like a good thing too," Rappahannock's Piedmont District Supervisor Eddie Wayland said after the deal was struck.

On the surface, it may seem like our area is being used as a dumping ground for others.

Not true.

While being paid to process the trash, Culpeper County is the transfer point for the waste, taking it to a landfill elsewhere.

Officials here are working as a middle man, turning a profit for their trouble.

It really is a "win-win" for all involved.

This deal is another indication that a regional view is needed on many of the services that local governments routinely supply.

The region is growing. More residents means an increased demand for water and power. It also translates to more traffic on our roads and overcrowding in our jails.

And yes, more people means more trash.

To solve the issues that eventually face every growing locality, governments must work together to meet a wide range of demands. The days of small governments being able to meet the needs of its residents for all services is coming to an end.

One government builds a large reservoir and sells water to another, while another agrees to process trash for a group of governments.

Those are the kind of regional solutions these times require.