From the Philly Inquirer:
Tiny N.J. towns are resisting push for them to merge
In a state known for its small municipalities, the smallest of the small are two Camden County boroughs that don’t have enough residents between them to fill a school bus.
Tavistock (population 8) and Pine Valley (population 19) are historic relics, golf clubs posing as towns. Each has a mayor and borough commissioners, a clerk, solicitor, tax assessor, tax collector and school district, though neither has any schools. Pine Valley even has a police force of seven.
New Jersey, home of the nation’s highest property taxes, is contemplating consolidating some of its 566 municipalities, 616 school districts and 486 local authorities to try to save money. Gov. Corzine has urged voluntary mergers and service-sharing, while some legislators are calling for mandatory consolidations.
The issue returns to center stage in Trenton today as the Senate is scheduled to consider a bill to establish a commission to recommend which local governments should be consolidated.
Twenty-six municipalities in New Jersey have fewer than 1,000 residents and an additional 49 have fewer than 2,000 residents. (After Tavistock and Pine Valley, the smallest municipality is Walpack Township in Sussex County, with 35 people, followed closely by Teterboro in Bergen County, an industrial community adjacent to Teterboro Airport, with 50 residents.)
In South Jersey, some of the other smallest municipalities are Cape May Point (241 residents) and West Wildwood (448) in Cape May County; Fieldsboro (522), Washington Township (621) and Wrightstown (748) in Burlington County; Hi-Nella (1,029) and Audubon Park (1,102) in Camden County; and Newfield (1,616) in Gloucester County.
The towns are so small they often have trouble finding enough candidates to run for school board or borough council, and most of their school districts exist only to send students to out-of-town schools. But they are as protective of their domains as any metropolis.
And then you have Teterboro, which has many ratables and so few children that they go to private academies.
Whats the problem. NJ is a home rule state.
(one reason why its BK’d.)
If they do not merge, then they should be forced to merge, and that should be across the board.
Sadly, Corzine will do nothing, and its too bad, I had high hopes for him
In truth, merging would bring about many efficiencies, which could go a long way to reducing taxes. Many small towns would be well served by combining police departments, fire department and sharing employees such as municipal court judges, tax assessors, building inspectors and school administration.
Towns could save money on school budgets by leveraging better negotiating positions (fewer and bigger districts) with unions and suppliers, reducing administration and sharing specialized resources like special ed and child development teams. This could be accomplished without impacting the quality of education or busing students to different schools (the problem isn’t too many classrooms).
The problem is that the unions won’t let this happen. They like the status quo. They will spread fear among parents that consolidation of police departments will mean less protection and more crime. Consolidating school districts will mean your kids will be shipped off to Newark and class sizes will double.
There’s no arguing that those miniscule communities should be absorbed by larger towns, but it is by merging the next group that savings might actually be achieved.
Down the Shore if the towns of Sea Bright, Monmouth Beach and Oceanport were to merge (they not only have a common border, they are in the same regional high school district already) they might actually save some real money, but there would be some oxes being gored. Unless you’ve seen local government up close, you have no idea how much intransigence exists in it.
Much like Bergenbubbleburst, I had some real hopes for Corzine, but they are fading fast.
The biggest fear is school regionalization, all the school boars have to do is threaten that property values will go down, and the rank and file voters will say no.
They will not ask questions, they will nto conduct any reserach, they wil just vote as instructed.
The NJEA was running commercials on Saturday night on a numebr of cable channels, touting NJ oublic schools, highest graduations rates, 4th best in the nation etc. As long as people believe that, nothing will happen.
To me who cares if we are 4th best in the nation, with the highest property taxes should we not be the best in the nation?
And what good id being 4th best, if we are paying all of this money to educate our children, but there is no future here for them, as comapnies will not relocate or expand their business’s here.
So are we educating them to send them off to another state to make a life for themselves there?
I would rather be in the top 10 or 20, and have a vibrant growing economy, where our children could make a life for themselves in NJ when they are grown.
Are we going to assume they will all get jobs in NYC, so it does not matter?
When you try to have a discussion about serious topics like this, people look at you like you are crazy, their eyes glaze over, and they say you are exagerating or too gloomy.
Now lets vote yes on that new school addition, our kids need an atrium, and astro turf fields and all the rest.
Come on people wake up!! Lets take the fire EMS services off the table allready. 95 percent of us are volunteer in this state, we don’t take get a pay check. Be thankfull that we are volunteer, no pension to worry about, no medical benefits and no PAY CHECK. Here is a reality check for you, WE NEED more VOLUNTEERS. People are so busy working to pay for a roof over there head and high taxes that the ranks are getting a little thin. Look around you there are signs everywhere volunteers needed, please join us. If the ranks continue to diminish watch our TAXES go though the roof to pay for these services, can you say Ridgewood, look at the taxes they pay for a Paid Dept.
It could be you having the heart attack or house fire with nobody to answer the call. VOLUNTEER!
I love the volunteers in my town, and contribute every year to the fire dept, and the ambulance corp. They are wonderful.
Hold on there nwbergen:
First you volunteer might save monies, but you do it by killing people.
May I remind you that back in the 70’s. The State was going to institute a county-wide paramedic ambulance system. Which was oppossed by the NJ First Aid Council -the lobbying group of you first aiders.
NJ in EMS is considered one of the worst. Same applies to Vol. Fire Dept. – check your home insurance company fire dept rating & you’ll see.
The big problem with your volunteer system is the lack of accountability. Every other state has regional EMS Board that regulate everyone in their area. You guys are allergic to & above regulation, except by your lobbying group, but you want tax dollar to fund your parties & purchases of the most expensive vehicle that will be mostly unmmanned. To see a regional EMS Counci check out VA’s. at http://www.VAEMS.org
The present non-transporting paramedic system is broke. Because is was design to use Medicare Part A subsidy instead of tax dollars & Medicare changed the rules about 6 yrs ago. So you vollies are going soon to be the ONLY EMS in any area, & just like back in the 70’s took the bodies to the hospital for pronouncement. See http://www.monoc.org.
I’m not oppossed to volunteers, but they need to be surpervised & accountable, & none of these “I’m holly than thou attitude because I’m a volunteer”. So you know- The STANDARDS are -In life-threatening emergecies an EMS system should be able to deliver to the 90th percentile – Basic Life Support/FIrst AId Care within 6 min & Advance/Paramedic Care within 8-9minutes. You won’t see this anywhere in NJ. Check out http://www.metrokc.gov/health/medicone/system.htm
& follow link to video.
Fire & EMS are VERY EFFICIENT withing economies of scales. You got many providers that run Emergencies & Non Emergencies and meet all contract bound response criteria using technology, thing like System Status Management. I bet you don’t know what that is. SEee http://www.CAEMS.COM follow link to members. See Sunstars & others.
So remember, next time you get that holier than thou volunteer blue light special- repeat- ” FIRST DO NO HARM ‘ & with that attitude & 120hrs of trainig & no supervision or accountability YOU ARE VERY DANGEROUS INDEED, & HARM YOU WILL DO.
WOW…
For Physician & EMS Expert to get on his soap box to deliver such a venomous and caustic diatribe is sad. Sir after reading your commentary please look into the mirror if you want to see some who is “holier then thou”. Perhaps with your great wealth of information and so called expertise you could be working to improve the system that we currently have instead of bashing it. I can tell you that I have had I have had the privilege and I mean privilege of riding with paramedics nurses and yes MD’s that have given their time to help the community and others less fortunate. For you to paint such a negative picture that includes your peers truly is sad and pathetic.
I will say it again VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
I will agree that many NJ towns have big problems with EMS. The problems, however, mostly aren’t attributable to the first aid aquad members, they are due to the lack of volunteers. Many towns have problems getting an ambulance out during the day. Fire departments, while thinner during the day, tend to have better responses to calls.
I don’t buy this lack of accountability BS. Most volunteers are there because they want to help and provide the highest level of care possible. Many doctors & nurses serve on volunteer first aid squads.
The present non-transporting paramedic system is broke.
The non-transporting paramedic system isn’t volunteer. These are typically career position operating out of local hospitals.
All that being said, I still think too many little towns have too much equipment. I was a member of a small town fire department for 10 years. We had more and better equipment than many small cities. I’m sure being generous with the equipment is a good tradeoff for getting people to vounteer, but with the crisis we are in, everything has to be on the table.
I would vote for keeping the volunteer system, providing more benefits to volunteers to keep the ranks at acceptable levels, reducing equipment inventories and relying more on mutual aid for real emergencies.
Leaders of 14 small towns and school districts rallied in Metuchen earlier this month against the efforts to compel merged services.
In Metuchen? How appropriate. Metuchen is tiny, insignifant and surrounded on all sides by Edison. It has no business being anything more than a tiny and inconsequential part of Edison.
“I don’t see where we’d save anything” by consolidation, said John Ott Jr., who spent 18 years as mayor of Pine Valley…
Dude has got to be retarded if he doesn’t “see” how fewer positions and a smaller payroll translates to savings.
Even as he defended the little borough’s independence, though, Ott complained of the cost of state-mandated requirements.
“There’s too much government in New Jersey,” he said.
Ok, I was right. He really is retarded.
Hey sync I would not associate Otts comments with retarded. His comments are dumber and that would be an insult to the retarded who I hold in high regard sometimes. He is just trying to hold onto his fiefdom, remember Edison is way out of control with its expenses having the highest paid cops in the state, from what I have heard/read.
As for Ott’s statement that there is too much Government in NJ, actually I am with Pesche, there are TOO MANY GOVERNMENTS because of home rule. Until the luxury of home rule weighs down to an utterly intolerable level, I do not see consolidation happening for fear of “them” in neighboring towns. Here in NW Jersey most towns have High School sending districts and some share middle schools. But it is a rare thing when elementary schools get shared.
As for Walpack, I know it well. Another fiefdom. Pahaquarry was similar until a few years ago when it was absorbed into Hardwick. I see the same fate for Walpack getting absorbed by Stillwater or Sandyston (probably Sandyston, no police force).
Hey sync,
I would not associate Otts comments with retarded. His comments are dumber and that would be an insult to the retarded who I hold in high regard sometimes. He is just trying to hold onto his fiefdom. In the Metuchen example all can say is remember Edison is way out of control with its expenses having the highest paid cops in the state, from what I have heard/read.
As for Ott’s statement that there is too much Government in NJ, actually I am with Pesche, there are TOO MANY GOVERNMENTS because of home rule. Until the luxury of home rule weighs down to an utterly intolerable level, I do not see consolidation happening for fear of “them” in neighboring towns. Here in NW Jersey most towns have High School sending districts and some share middle schools. But it is a rare thing when elementary schools get shared.
As for Walpack, I know it well. Another fiefdom. Pahaquarry was similar until a few years ago when it was absorbed into Hardwick. I see the same fate for Walpack getting absorbed by Stillwater or Sandyston (probably Sandyston, no police force).
BTW Ott got this wrong too,
“I don’t see where we’d save anything” by consolidation, said John Ott Jr., who spent 18 years as mayor of Pine Valley and is now one of three borough commissioners. “What would we lose? Our independence. And name me one place where big government is efficient.”
I will give 3 places where gov’t is more efficient.
1. Health insurance- VA and Medicare, 3% overhead.
2. SS check issuance and oversight, nothing compares in private sector, but overhead is minuscule as a percentage of total when compared to other check operations like ADP.
3. Operating and maintaining roads.
Sometimes government is more efficient due to economies of scale and the fact that profits are not part of the equation, The last example is more of a public good which government tend to do the best. Which is why I am very against selling our highways to for profit organizations.
sorry about the sort of double post, it did not look like it went through the first time.
metroplex,
You are right, my apologies for using the word ‘retarded’. Stupid/moronic would’ve been more appropriate.