Now that the dust has settled on the state shutdown in Trenton, and the budget battles are over for a while, perhaps it really is time to take a second look at Governor Corzine’s “voice of one crying in the wilderness recommendation” and seriously address the subject of shared municipal services as a way to reduce skyrocketing property taxes in the Garden State. Your voice can be heard by Governor Corzine on September 16, 2006. 

At the risk of being accused of blatant heresy, permit me to ask the following basic question about New Jersey and its current structure of 566 municipalities, 600 + school districts and 21 counties.  Do we simply have too much local government?  Note, for the purpose of this discussion I’m considering municipalities and counties to be local governments.  The reason for doing so is simple.  In most jurisdictions across the country local government services are provided to citizens by either a municipality or county – not by both.  You either live in a municipality or a county, and in most of the country they are separate pieces of geography. There is, therefore, no overlap or duplication of services.   

This is, of course, is not what happens in New Jersey.  All 566 municipalities are located in one of the 21 counties.  And while there are definitely some distinct services provided by both levels of government, there are duplications aplenty!   One could certainly argue that overlap or duplication of important services simply means citizens are getting better attention, particularly with respect to essential services, but those making that argument will usually also make the claim that more government spending is always better than less.  Unfortunately, paying twice for something always makes it more expensive than only paying once.

Permit me to offer a quick example.  Why do we have local police departments and county police departments?  If you answer, “because the county police department are responsible for providing security at courthouses and county jails, and local police departments, in addition to providing security at municipal courts and government buildings, are also responsible for traffic safety and patrolling roadways, no one could quarrel with the necessity for both.  Increasingly, however, county police departments are also patrolling county roads, county parks, county colleges, and the like, geography also under the jurisdiction of local police departments, and thereby a clear duplication. 

In some states all local roads are either state roads or county roads.  In New Jersey we have municipal roads, county roads and state roads, an unnecessary and inefficient division of responsibility.  

So how do “shared services” fix the problem?  In truth, they don’t fix the total problem.  But this approach is vastly more efficient than the status quo.  Permit me to offer several examples.

Which is more important to public safety, accident reports or patrolling?  The answer, of course, is patrolling – maintaining a deterring, visible presence.  So when pressed to the wall by spiraling tax rates, which service needs to be supported and which one gets tossed overboard?  The answer, while not pleasant to contemplate, is the records bureau.  Pay a nearby, larger municipality to maintain your records.  And in this era of enhanced 9-1-1, why do so many municipalities continue to provide there own public safety dispatch services?  If the choice comes down to patrolling or dispatching, the decision is easy – dispatching goes overboard.  

How about code enforcement?   Take a look at the per capita distribution of code enforcers in New York City or Philadelphia and compare the results with the per capita distribution for those same services in the Garden State’s 566 municipalities and 21 counties and you’ll quickly find out that we’re top heavy with regard to enforcement .  Expanding the debate to include local and county government educational bureaucracies also clearly illustrates why property taxes are so high.  Passaic County has 16 municipalities, meaning, of course, that there are also a minimum of 16 school superintendents, assistant superintendents, curriculum coordinators, etc.  To suggest that none of these functions could be “shared” is ludicrous based on the experience of educational jurisdictions across the country.  A comparison of superintendents per capita (based on student population) across the country quickly reveals that the Garden State appears quite top heavy with respect to administration.  

The reality of imposing efficiency through shared services is no different than what happens in every business during an economic downturn.  When revenues start to dry up for businesses, they have one of two choices – sell more or cut expenses.  Local government in New Jersey is at that same place right now.  The ratable chase for most is over, so meeting increased costs by an ever-expanding tax base is a thing of the past, so “selling more,” is not an option.  The only course of action left, unfortunately, is cutting expenses by seeking and engaging in more and more shared services. 

Governor Corzine has hit the nail on the head on this one.  It’s not fun to think about, but let’s not kill the messenger.  This day has been coming for the past 40 years.  It’s time to get on with it. 

As a mayor, and if you really you believe it is time to make productive changes, register today to participate in our 15^th Annual NJCM Executive Summit. Be there to discuss property tax reform with Governor Corzine, DCA Commissioner Levin, and at least a dozen more Cabinet Members, all under the NJCM “big tents” in a bipartisan, super casual atmosphere, and at the same time you will enjoy the camaraderie with your fellow mayors and some great seafood at the same time.