Politics & Government

Senate President Calls for Increased Shared Services

Sweeney touts savings he created in Gloucester County, but stops short of calling for end to home-rule.

The president of the New Jersey State Senate Wednesday night said municipalities must share services to save money, but stopped short of calling for a total end of the state's home-rule government.

Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) stressed his accomplishments as the Gloucester County freeholder director and said shared services are needed to reduce property taxes, in light of the state-imposed 2 percent property tax cap. Sweeney was speaking during a seminar for county municipal leaders on shared services.

“We’ve made government tough for local elected officials,” Sweeney said during a speech to Union County elected officials. “This is a natural moment to share costs. There is nothing you can’t share.”

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During an interview with Patch following his speech, Sweeney said that while he was pushing for more shared services on the local level, including introducing legislation to encourage the process, he did not want to propose full-scale consolidation of the state’s 566 municipalities. He said the state’s reliance on home-rule practices, widely regarded as an untouchable issue among politicians, are as much to blame for making consolidation unlikely as the state laws that require consolidation to be adopted only after a referendum is approved by majority vote in each of the impacted communities.

 “The difference is the zoning, planning and way the community looks,” Sweeney said.

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Sweeney did say that local officials shouldn't be afraid to explore shared services. He added that local government officials can control the direction of their towns, but went as far as saying that departments could be combined among towns or with the county government. He said that Gloucester County's system for taking over EMS services from town first aid squads has reduced response times.

Sweeney said he believes that consolidation of administrative functions could succeed for some school districts, citing the consolidation of school districts in Gloucester County. He praised Union County's system for shared services as an example of success in north Jersey's densely populated counties. He touted that county's connection with an insurance fund with southern more rural counties as one example.

“It is much harder to do it when it is denser,” he said, citing what he sees as a belief among urban communities that many services won't benefit from a county-wide system.

During his speech to the local officials, Sweeney outlined several projects that Gloucester County implemented under his leadership, in addition to the EMS program. Among these were the implementation of a countywide tax-assessment system, a county police-dispatch system, a countywide stormwater-management system, the bulk purchase of road salt and county government taking over deer carcass removal. Those Sweeney said the measures saved county residents $235 per household in property taxes.

He said the legislation he has introduced will spur more municipalities and counties to share services, by allowing a state committee to review programs and involve the public in the process and allow for a public referendum. Sweeney said officials should begin public-information campaigns to show residents how sharing services will save money and not lead to lost jobs and inadequate services. During his speech, he said local first-aid squads had expressed strong opposition to the county EMS program in Gloucester County when the freeholder board was debating the plan.

“I understand the political issues,” Sweeney said. “The minute you say you want to change something, you will have protests. We will let the voters decide.”

In the interview with Patch, Sweeney stressed that he believes it is time to start implementing shared services.

“People have to see that to get to lower taxes, you need to reduce the burden,” he said.

Do you believe there should be more shared services or government consolidation? Tell us in the comments section.


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