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Here are some of my ideas for attaining a more efficient system of local governance in NJ. I focus on keeping community coheesiveness and geographic boundaries which foster that rationality. I can only imagine the amount of money to be saved. Please chime in with your own ideas.
I'll only focus on Northern and Central NJ for now;
1. Princeton (Princeton's)
2. Pennington ( Zip Codes 08560 + 08534)
3. Hopewell ( Zip Code 08525 + Far East Hopewell twp.)
4. Hightstown (Hightstown + East Windsor + Millstone Twp. + Roosevelt)
Monmouth County
1. Freehold (Freehold's)
2. Allentown (Allentown + Upper Freehold)
3. Englishtown (Englishtown + Manalapan)
4. Farmingdale (Farmingdale + Howell)
5. Matawan (Matawan + Aberdeen)
6. Keyport (Keyport + Hazlet)
7. Lincroft (Far West Middletown Twp.)
8. Red Bank (Red Bank + Shrewsbury)
9. Long Branch (Long Branch + West Long Branch)
10. Allenhurst (Allenhurst + Loch Harbor + Interlaken)
11. Asbury Park (Asbury Park + Neptune's)
12. Belmar (Belmar + Lake Como)
13. Spring Lake (Spring Lake's + Wall)
Ocean County
1. Bay Head (Bay Head + Mantaloking)
2. Point Pleasant (Point Pleasant's + Brick)
3. Lakehurst (Lakehurst + Manchester)
4. Toms River ( Toms River + South Toms River + Beachwood + Pine Beach + Ocean Gate + Island Heights + Berkeley)
5. Tuckerton (Tuckerton + Little Egg Harbor + Eagleswood)
6. Beach Haven (Beach Haven + Southern LBI)
7. Ship Bottom (Ship Bottom + Northern LBI + Surf City + Harvey Cedars + Barnegat Light)
I'll do Southern NJ later......
dont listen to FOOLISH non believers munincupalities need consolidation due to the fact that they are bloated and dont coordinate look what it did to LA's transit system turned in into an unorganized mess.
i dont hate everyone employed by the "community." i just dont want to employ them anymore.
yes, government employees are completely useless. i could get more for less money if we turned over the minimal services they are responsible for to the private sector.
ill offer something to the point of municipal consolidation. consolidate them all under 1 body. eliminate 50% of the staff and 40% of all compensation.
this actually makes sense to a certain point if executed properly that is but if done wrong then there will be hell to pay
Essex Fells and Caldwell consolidated Police services years ago. The process did not cause any jobs to be lost. In fact the process has caused much confusion for both towns. An example, It is common for towns to have the same street names. When a Police call comes in for dispatch to say Elm St.; the response from the patrolman on the road is always in which town? Oftentimes the caller will not give the location because they do not even know where they are. In an emergency situation precious time is lost and also lives as well. Incidentially, the consolidation and all of it's associated problems saved the taxpayer less than $50 a year.
The concept has great merit and should be pursued actively. In fact, Senate President Sweeney has proposed withholding a certain percentage of municipal aid from towns that refuse to at least consolidate their services. That being said, the "push-back" from highly-paid police chiefs (and their very well-paid multiple layers of deputy/assistant chiefs, captains, and lieutenants) will probably be enough to prevent this from happening.
The vast majority of municipal workers' salaries are incredibly low, but the administrators at the top of the salary scale are compensated very well. They will, of course, resist any change that might eliminate some of those administrative positions.
While I will not pretend to know statewide geography and demographics sufficiently to comment on all of the suggested combinations, some with which I am familiar do not make much sense, IMHO. As one example, merging Bound Brook and South Bound Brook is NOT a good idea. If you ever tried to use the only bridge connecting those municipalities during rush hour, you would know that attempting to get emergency vehicles across that bridge could be dangerously slow.
Additionally, closure of that bridge happens with amazing frequency, thus giving emergency vehicles a VERY long alternate route to traverse. It would make much more sense for South Bound Brook to be absorbed by Franklin Township, of which it was once a part!
In Middlesex County, Metuchen could be merged with Edison, in total, rather than just "far eastern Edison".
In Hudson County, the entire northern part--North Bergen, West New York, Union City, and Guttenberg could be merged.
Overall, consolidation of services and mergers of municipalities is virtually the only way to begin to control costs and hold the line on propery taxes. Rather than concentrating on demonizing public employees and running for the presidency, our esteemed governor should focus his efforts on the consolidation of services and the merging of municipalities.
My focus is on Monroe + Jamesburg in Middlesex County. Jamesburg is literally completely encompassed by Monroe. There couldn't be a clearer need for consolidation. Monroe already took Jamesburg's post office, so why not go the distance. My idea would have Jamesburg become "the Historic Section" of Monroe, much like they have in South Brunswick. Governor Christie has done much good with his dramatic actions to this point, this should be his next crusade.
Throw Helmetta and maybe spotswood in there (or is that East Brunswick)
Essex Fells and Caldwell consolidated Police services years ago. The process did not cause any jobs to be lost. In fact the process has caused much confusion for both towns. An example, It is common for towns to have the same street names. When a Police call comes in for dispatch to say Elm St.; the response from the patrolman on the road is always in which town? Oftentimes the caller will not give the location because they do not even know where they are. In an emergency situation precious time is lost and also lives as well. Incidentially, the consolidation and all of it's associated problems saved the taxpayer less than $50 a year.
That is because the person answering the phone is not really quailfied and is probably the mayer's daughter/nephew/mistress
Let's comebine the other 19 departments and now we have a $1K/year savings per resident
Are Newark and Jersey City really more cost efficient than the small towns? Does making larger towns really guarantee savings?
The answer really lies with what Captain said- so list the services you are willing to do without, how large you will tolerate class sizes, what cuts you will support for special education. The average teacher makes $60k plus about $15K in benefit payments. Captain wants that capped at $60k inclusive of benefits. Plus he only wants about 50% of them working. Could the NJ economy survive such a drastic cut? Could the private sector provide enough jobs to all the now unemployed public sector workers. Could the private sector that gets government contracts handle losing 50% of that?
All of North Bergen, West New York, Union City, and Guttenburg should be combined into JC. They are only over 3 sq miles and all have their own city governments and agencies and employees. They is no need for those towns and cities being so small have their own entities. They have a pretty big population but to me it just makes more sense.
All of North Bergen, West New York, Union City, and Guttenburg should be combined into JC. They are only over 3 sq miles and all have their own city governments and agencies and employees. They is no need for those towns and cities being so small have their own entities. They have a pretty big population but to me it just makes more sense.
Why not wish for Hoboken and Bayonne while you're at it, then JC can have the whole southern peninusula? Not going to happen in any case.
The problem of too many administrators paid too highly is real, but, merger only indirectly attacks the too-many issue (positions would still need to be cut, not merely merged together and giving the same old cronys new spots in the merged town; not something that you can just assume will happen), and doesn't at all handle the paid-too-much part.
Then there is the fact that most local spending is on non-administrative employees that do real work and deserve their pay (not the oversized pensions, but, hey, that issue also isn't at all touched by mergers).
Then there is the problem of the massive transfers of money from everywhere else to the Abbot districts.
Then there is the massive cost of the inevitable years of lawsuits every time you attempt to merge a district with a stronger tax base or better schools with one with a weaker tax base and/or worse schools -- it's basically a political declaration of war against the residents and is unfailingly treated as such.
I could see how mergers CAN be useful and should be supported when they occur organically, but, trying to impose them from above is a massive headache with relatively low returns -- it just doesn't solve most of the drivers of high tax burdens.
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Not going to happen in any case.
