Kudos to Southampton County and Franklin City officials for making a formal attempt to work together in hopes of saving taxpayer dollars.

The county and city offer a lot of the same services to residents, and are looking into ways to share some of those services to save money.

Right now, their plans are preliminary, but a first step has been taken.

Supervisors on Monday entered into a contract with the city to provide building inspections on new construction in the county.

The opportunity came up with the Dec. 1 retirement of county building inspector John Jenkins. By not filling his position and contracting with the city, the county expects to save a maximum $33,000.

The county will pay the city $30 an hour for a maximum of 20 hours a week for inspections.

The maximum the county would pay for one year is $31,200. Jenkins’ salary and benefits cost the county $64,000 annually.

We hope both governing bodies can continue to find ways to share services and save money.