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ONEIDA COUNTY, N.Y. -- Oneida and Onondaga counties are both calling their new medical examiner agreement a big step toward efficiency and accountability.

Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente and Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney signed a new contract Wednesday. The one year, $480,000 deal will allow Oneida County to use Onondaga County's medical examiner services.

The executives say the deal helps both counties because they believe regional consolidation is the wave of the future.

“It's not reinventing the wheel. So many times when government does things, they start fresh all over again, when right next door in Onondaga County, there's a system in place that fits our needs,” Picente said.

Mahoney said, “It's less expensive on the whole for us to bring our efforts together than to keep two separate operations. My hat's off, really, to Tony Picente and the legislature here in Oneida County because everybody's been talking about needing to do things like this, but they've actually done it.”

The new deal will take over for Oneida County's coroner service starting January 1st.