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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;
OK, UQ it has been 8 years. Any of your suggestions come through?
Very interesting ideas.
The speed that government moves to consolidate services and put some of the bureaucrats out of a job is somewhere between very, very slow, and stop. My guess is, as an outside observer and only knowing some of these towns -- is that nothing ever happened.
Last edited by BeerGeek40; 12-22-2018 at 07:07 AM..
My guess is, as an outside observer and only knowing some of these towns -- is that nothing ever happened.
Actually, Princeton Borough and Princeton Township (or, as UrbanQuest referred to them.. "the Princeton's" ) were merged in 2013. There was some cost saving, but nowhere near as much one might have expected. There may have been other municipal mergers/consolidations, but I am not aware of them.
Closer to home for me, several years ago Somerset County proposed a consolidation of municipal police services by creating a county-wide police force, with... IIRC... five "zones". It would have eliminated (through attrition) almost all of the Police Chief positions, and replaced them with commanders for each of the zones. I thought it was a very good idea, but--surprise, surprise--because of opposition from police "brass", the proposal was put into the dumpster.
The speed that government moves to consolidate services and put some of the bureaucrats out of a job is somewhere between very, very slow, and stop. My guess is, as an outside observer and only knowing some of these towns -- is that nothing ever happened.
The reality is that consolidating municipal structures in the case of many of these towns doesn't save very much at all, and the bureaucrats have little to nothing to do with it. Take for instance two towns from the OP's list, one of which I live in-Bethlehem Township and Hampton Borough. Both towns put together have literally a handful of full time employees, the Municipal Clerk (every town must have a Clerk by statute) and the Department of Public Works personnel. We have no police force (we utilize State Police services) and every other position in both towns (Tax Assessor, Tax Collector, Zoning Officer, CFO, etc...) is part time and/or shared with another town already. Here in Bethlehem we have almost no services-we contract on our own for garbage and recycling, but Hampton Borough does include garbage pickup in their municipal taxes. I don't have my tax bill handy, but the municipal portion is only about 11% of the total IIRC. For us that works out to $1,078 per year, which, for what we get (basically road maintenance, snow plowing, a nice park off of Route 173, and a few other small things) is quite reasonable IMO. The other 89% of the bill is Hunterdon County tax, local school district tax (Bethlehem Township School District K-8) and regional school district tax (North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District).
We could merge with Hampton Borough, Union Township, Bloomsbury, and Glen Gardner, which are all contiguous to us and the municipal portion of the tax bill likely wouldn't change all that much. Assuming the existing school district structures were left in place, everything would essentially be the same. However, if one were to leave all of the municipalities in place as they are, and simply bring all existing schools under the umbrella of one Hunterdon County School District with one central administrative office, MASSIVE savings would be realized for all property taxpayers. The quest for consolidation of municipalities and municipal services is a myth that distracts from the real cost savings that could realized by consolidating into county school districts. The irony in all of this of course is that it's not bureaucrats within the school systems that are opposed as much as it is PARENTS who are opposed. Until that changes (and I don't know that it ever will), we are stuck where we are. If you don't believe that its school consolidation and not municipal consolidation that we need, take your tax bill this January and do the math-you'll likely be quite surprised. Even in municipalities known for high overall taxes and lots of services (garbage, police, rec programs, etc...) the municipal portion of the bill is typically no more than 30% of 1/3 of the total. The other 70% is taken up by county and school taxes.
I should also add that I would be opposed to consolidating with Hampton Borough or any of the other contiguous municipalities simply because I don't want or need any of their services and wouldn't want to be forced to utilize them. Glen Gardner and Hampton both handle their own garbage and operate their own water utilities. I like hiring my own garbage company and being able to adjust service and/or change companies whenever I want. I also take bulk waste to the county transfer station on my own. I would also not want to one day be forced to hook up to public water (or sewer, which consolidation could bring) either. Where we live its unlikely that that this would happen just because of the sheer distances involved, but the point remains. We also have no need for a local police force out here. Honestly, there are probably too many local police forces in Hunterdon County as it is. The only towns that actually need one are probably Flemington, Lambertville, and maybe Clinton, but that's it.
Last edited by Swamp_Yankee; 12-22-2018 at 08:31 AM..
I am strongly supportive of regional services, but am skeptical as to the savings when municipalities merge and the political ability for mergers to actually happen. In the past three decades, there have been just ten city-city mergers in the U.S. I do believe that merging municipalities would enable said municipalities to more easily apply for and receive grants and save money when negotiating services from the private sector such as trash collection and snow removal. However, I don't believe that bigger government is more efficient. As someone else mentioned, the savings with the Princeton merger was less than projected. I am completely opposed to merging large municipalities with smaller ones, such as Rockaway Borough and Rockaway Township. That seems to have limited benefit for the larger municipalities and would be a net negative to the smaller municipality, see Roxbury/Mount Arlington proposal.
I am a supporter of shared services instead of mergers for a few reasons. One, shared services contracts are more easily reversible if one of the party's involved isn't satisfied with the arrangement. Two, shared services enable municipalities to only share those services where it truly saves money. Three, shared services are more politically feasible.
I will also add this. Shared services do save taxpayer dollars, but the problem facing New Jersey is not that we have too many municipalities, it's that state government puts far too much fiscal pressure on municipalities and redistributes 60% of public school aid to just 5% of school municipalities.
Governor Murphy is throwing more money into the current failed school funding formula. Until education is funded on a per-pupil basis and money is returned to taxpayers and school boards on an equitable basis, property taxes will continue to increase.
I will also add this. Shared services do save taxpayer dollars, but the problem facing New Jersey is not that we have too many municipalities, it's that state government puts far too much fiscal pressure on municipalities and redistributes 60% of public school aid to just 5% of school municipalities.
Governor Murphy is throwing more money into the current failed school funding formula. Until education is funded on a per-pupil basis and money is returned to taxpayers and school boards on an equitable basis, property taxes will continue to increase.
Exactly. 21 County School Districts, each receiving equal state funding on a per-pupil basis is the only way property taxes will ever be brought under control. If the schools' portion of my bill was reduced by one third, my property taxes would drop from about $9800 per year to about $7400 per year, which, for a 2600SF 5 bedroom house on two acres would be quite reasonable IMO.
I honestly believe that one of the biggest problems is that precious few people understand even the basics of all of this. I can't tell you how many times I've opened people's eyes to the fact that schools and municipalities are totally separate entities and that the municipality is merely a pass-through for the schools' property tax funding because the state designated municipalities as the sole assessors and collectors of property tax. Many people just assume that if they are paying, say $10,000 per year in property tax that all of the money goes to the municipality (I'm not sure how they thought schools were funded?) and they go on and on about the Department of Public Works standing around, the fact that their road hasn't been paved, the municipal offices are only open from 8:30 - 4:30, etc... Then you tell them that of that $10,000 the town only gets $2000 and they get this confused look on their face Of course, these are usually the same people that think that Mayors and Councilmembers are full time employees of the town with benefits and pensions, which is the exception, rather than the rule when looking at all 565 municipalities.
I agree with those that said this will never happen, but IF it did, you could pretty much merge each county into a united municipality. With a handful of exceptions like Newark remaining separate. Burlington County should also be split in 2 halves as well. But generally speaking, most counties should just be consolidated.
Coming from Staten Island (which is basically the same size and population as a NJ county), I've always found it odd that each neighborhood in NJ is declared a "town" with its own school district police dept., and ordinances, etc. It seems extremely inefficient.
I also wonder if an added benefit to this would be more powerful counties that could counter-balance the Governor. 21 "mayors" of several hundred thousand citizens each have more leverage and prestige in state government than hundreds of small-town mayors like we have now.
I agree with those that said this will never happen, but IF it did, you could pretty much merge each county into a united municipality. With a handful of exceptions like Newark remaining separate. Burlington County should also be split in 2 halves as well. But generally speaking, most counties should just be consolidated.
Coming from Staten Island (which is basically the same size and population as a NJ county), I've always found it odd that each neighborhood in NJ is declared a "town" with its own school district police dept., and ordinances, etc. It seems extremely inefficient.
I also wonder if an added benefit to this would be more powerful counties that could counter-balance the Governor. 21 "mayors" of several hundred thousand citizens each have more leverage and prestige in state government than hundreds of small-town mayors like we have now.
These comparisons don't make much sense. Staten Island doesn't really compare well because its a Borough of New York City, so all municipal services are handled by the same municipal government that handles Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn. Same for schools. As far as consolidation, even if schools and other services were consolidated on the county level, there would still be towns and local Mayors. This is the case even in the South and West. As far as the leaders of counties, (I'm not sure how you'd have a Mayor of a county? They have their own governmental structure already) they wouldn't have any more political power over the Governor than they do now, which is none. Residents of every county and town are already represented by their State Legislators and State Senators in the State Legislature. I think you're approaching this along the lines of the relationship between Bill DeBlasio and Andrew Cuomo. No matter how big you make a county in New Jersey it's not going to compare to a municipality of 9 million people with interstate transit systems (NJ Transit, MTA, PATH, LIRR, etc...) feeding into it that carries the economy of an entire region of the United States.
These comparisons don't make much sense. Staten Island doesn't really compare well because its a Borough of New York City, so all municipal services are handled by the same municipal government that handles Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn. Same for schools. As far as consolidation, even if schools and other services were consolidated on the county level, there would still be towns and local Mayors. This is the case even in the South and West. As far as the leaders of counties, (I'm not sure how you'd have a Mayor of a county? They have their own governmental structure already) they wouldn't have any more political power over the Governor than they do now, which is none. Residents of every county and town are already represented by their State Legislators and State Senators in the State Legislature. I think you're approaching this along the lines of the relationship between Bill DeBlasio and Andrew Cuomo. No matter how big you make a county in New Jersey it's not going to compare to a municipality of 9 million people with interstate transit systems (NJ Transit, MTA, PATH, LIRR, etc...) feeding into it that carries the economy of an entire region of the United States.
First, I want to agree that the school system issue is #1. Thankfully I'm lucky that my town seems to do everything right, including being a part of a multi-town school district. That's probably why my taxes are some of the most reasonable in the state. Most people aren't so lucky.
But what I'm wondering in THEORY, (because yes I know it'll probably never happen) is what would happen if we 100% dissolved the towns and made the county THE municipal government. (Again with a few adjustments like keeping Newark it's own county and slicing a couple of giant counties like Burlington in half to make it more manageable.)
My reasoning is this: I read on a similar thread that Bergen County has almost as many fire vehicles as NYC, presumably because each town needs a certain minimum. (I can't find the facts to verify that though.) I WAS however able to verify that NJ has the most cops per-capita of any large state. This matches my personal impression that so many perfectly nice towns are crawling with police. I would imagine that this could be better allocated on a county-wide basis. I also wonder if there are a lot more dispatchers, admin etc than necessary on a per person basis with so many small departments.
Also, just one small example of unnecessary redundancy that comes to mind: I currently pay a town sewer tax AND a county sewer tax (in addition to the actual water-usage bill). This is ridiculous and probably increases costs to have additional clerks at each level when it could all be handled by one. I'm curious how many times similar redundancies play out across different government functions in the background.
As far as increased prestige for a county "mayor" I'm aware that none of them would ever achieve the influence of a NYC mayor, but as a matter of degree it would still help. For example Cory Booker as mayor of Newark had much more stature than small town mayors and I bet it helped him become a Senator. I'm also going to assume that then he allocates more projects to his home district.
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) were merged in 2013. There was some cost saving, but nowhere near as much one might have expected. There may have been other municipal mergers/consolidations, but I am not aware of them.
Of course, these are usually the same people that think that Mayors and Councilmembers are full time employees of the town with benefits and pensions, which is the exception, rather than the rule when looking at all 565 municipalities.
