Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
BY AVI FRISCH
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
COMMENTARY
As many know (though some vehemently deny for various reasons), New Jersey has an inordinate number of municipalities, each providing its own set of services replicating those of all the others with absolutely no economies of scale.
This Jersey system of political economy is generally perceived to be anything but cost-effective. New Jersey taxpayers certainly pay for redundant services, many of which could be provided more cheaply if done on a broader basis, say, of a county.
Interestingly, the consolidation of services is broadly popular as a theoretical proposition. As noted recently in a Quinnipiac poll, New Jerseyans support school district and municipal mergers by a margin of 65-28 percent. The devil, however, is, as always, in the details.
One major area of concern is public education, which is far and away the largest single expense for most New Jersey municipalities. The legislature spent time on reform of educational districts in 2006, when it met in special session to deal with property tax reform.Little appears to have been accomplished, though the legislature did attempt to create a pilot program to study countywide school districts. Local opposition derailed the pilot project, however.
As it happens, current law allows for merger of school districts, but the school boards of each district and a majority of voters in each municipality must vote to approve any merger.
Currently, there is neither an incentive for individual school boards to vote themselves out of existence, nor a sufficient framework for large-scale mergers of school districts (essentially, the law allows individual districts to negotiate mergers that would then be subject to voter approval in each municipality, but no system for countywide or truly regional districts).
While the procedure for any merger is technically simple, the logistics would be a nightmare, what with all sorts of entrenched interests fighting every move along the way.
Furthermore, merger of districts promises to be cheaper in the long run, but would at the outset require considerable costs to implement. Any savings would come over time with reduction of overlapping programs and services, sale of redundant facilities and reductions in work force.
And of course these steps would be a hard-fought slog and would definitely not happen overnight. Things as simple as town football rivalries and as complicated as powerful interconnected unions will stand in the way of change.
Among the challenges would be the matter of how to equalize services offered within the newly regionalized school districts. Some districts, for example, offer school bus service for all students including those in private school, while neighboring districts do not. How should a merged district handle this?
So what should we think about the transformation process? Are the short-term costs worth the possible long-term payoffs? In all likelihood they are, but it is a good bet the changes will not spring up from the grass roots.
A purely voluntary approach by the state with only weak incentives to motivate municipalities is almost certain to fail in the face of powerful opposition. Change will need to be imposed from above, with a well-thought out plan from Trenton.
The state government will have to rationalize the system it uses to provide local services, and such a rationalization will likely need to include the abolition by the legislature of small school districts, boroughs, towns and cities into an organizational structure that focuses on efficient use of resources and distribution of benefits.
This plan would also require funding from the state to implement, as nothing will change without some sticks and a few dollars as carrots.
Whether the plan I am invoking involves schooling alone or also other services such as police and fire will remain to be determined. Whenever the legislature and governor decide to get serious about fighting the good fight, that campaign for change is sure to face huge challenges.
New Jerseyans like home rule, municipal unions are very strong and individuals who should support municipal reform might have conflicting interests (such as a fear of being shortchanged in any reform).
One must hope that whoever wins the race for governor will make this his first challenge. So now let me pinch my Jersey born and bred hide and wake up. The history of Trenton makes me skeptical and cynical.
Avi Frisch is a lawyer in Paramus and Manhattan. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or at his website, avifrischlaw.com.
