The article analyzes changes in the architecture of the territorial organization of local self-government caused by the abolition of settlements and the formation of municipal entities of a larger type, and their impact on the equalization of budgetary capacity, reduction of specific expenses for the maintenance of local government bodies, development of the financial and budgetary mechanism of inter-municipal agglomeration. The object of the study was the subjects of the Russian Federation classified as agricultural regions in the areas of: crop production, livestock farming, mixed agriculture, agricultural services and fertilizer production. An assessment is given of the effect of the transition to a single-level structure of municipalities from the standpoint of overcoming horizontal imbalances of local budgets, reducing inter-municipal differentiation in the level of budgetary capacity; optimization of local government costs. The results of the study show: the presence of positive trends in terms of overcoming the inter-municipal gap in budget parameters; the absence of a stable effect of economies of scale associated with the consolidation of municipal entities; the prospects for the formation of inter-municipal agglomerations as an alternative form of consolidation of municipal resources based on inter-municipal cooperation; the need for methodological and regulatory development of the basic components of horizontal subsidization within the framework of inter-municipal agglomerations.