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TagsBY TOM HESTER SR.
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Only 3 percent of New Jersey's 587 independent local authorities and commissions post their financial reports on the Internet and more than a 195 do not operate a website at all, according to an Office of the State Comptroller report made public Tuesday.
In attempting to cast light on some of the more obscure portions of what it describes as New Jersey's bloated and often overlapping system of government, the OSC report catalogues the authorities and commissions and analyzes the level of on-line transparency they offer.
The report estimates that the authorities and commissions spend a combined $5 billion annually and have incurred billions of dollars in debt.
The report noted that the state averages one government unit for every 3.8 square miles.
The report also found that many of the agencies fail to take basic steps to keep the public informed of their operations and finances.
For example, 36 percent do not operate a website. Of the local agencies that do operate a website, the report found many failed to include basic and significant information. For example, only 8 percent post the minutes, schedule and agendas of their public meetings on the web. Only 3 percent of local agencies post their Comprehensive Annual Financial Report or a similar fiscal report."For too long, many local authorities and commissions in New Jersey have acted like private clubs, publicizing agency information only when it suits their needs," State Comptroller Matthew Boxer said. "New Jersey residents are entitled to information about the operations of all of the government entities they fund – and those government entities must do a better job of providing the public with access to that information."
The report also looked at some of the financial costs associated with operating the many agencies. Based on a sample, the OSC estimated the total annual expenditures and total debt for the 587 authorities and commissions each exceeds $5 billion. More than 10,000 current employees of those local agencies are in the New Jersey pension system.
"When you have so many government units, each contracting separately for services and each hiring their own personnel, the costs of government become duplicative and maximizing efficiency becomes nearly impossible," Boxer said.
Only seven government entities satisfied all of the transparency measures used by the included with the report.
Coinciding with the release of the report, Boxer announced the creation of a "transparency portal" that offers one-stop access to the available websites of more than 1,900 government entities operating in the state, including the 392 authorities and commissions with sites, 604 school districts and 566 municipalities. The portal can be viewed at the OSC's website.
The 587 local agencies catalogued in the report include improvement authorities, sewerage authorities, pollution control authorities, utilities authorities, parking authorities, bridge commissions, water commissions, redevelopment authorities, port authorities, fire districts, housing authorities, joint insurance funds, urban enterprise zone development corporations, regional health commissions, county parks commissions, workforce investment boards and soil conservation districts.
"When you have so many different government units spending public dollars, it becomes difficult for even the most attentive members of the public to monitor how their money is being spent," Boxer said. "Too often the public never hears about these local agencies until scandals unfold. But we pay for these agencies every day – when we pay tolls, when we pay our water bills and when we pay our property taxes."
The report comes as Gov. Chris Christie attempts to have the state government get a tighter grip on authorities and commissions. He has taken strong action against the scandal-plagued Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority and equally troubled. Delaware River Port Authority.
The OSC report recommends that all local agencies establish a website that includes:
- Detailed agency financial information;
- A description of the agency's mission and responsibilities;
- Basic contact information, including the name and phone number of at least one official responsible for the agency's actions; and
- A schedule of the agency's meeting dates, agendas for future public meetings and the minutes of prior meetings.
State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) is the sponsor of bills that would require all government agencies to comply with the state's Open Public Records and Meetings Acts and post financial information on the web.
"The comptroller's report released today documents what we already knew: that many of the state's independent local and regional authorities and agencies are shirking their responsibility to transparency," Weinberg said. ‘These agencies have acted with little to no accountability of spending and indebtedness and have contributed to the sky-high cost of government in the Garden State.
"In 2007, I lamented about the lack of transparency and accountability in the independent authorities operating throughout the state," the senator said. "This layer of shadow government spends taxpayer dollars in secret, with little oversight or public scrutiny, and inflates the cost of living on the rest of us. Four years later, these problems still exist.
"It's time that we give New Jerseyans the tools they need to rein in the cost of government, and root out waste, fraud and abuse of the taxpayer's trust, wherever it might rear its ugly head,"
Weinberg's proposals would require all public agencies funded by taxpayer dollars to follow the tenets of the state's Open Public Records Act and Open Public Meetings Act. In addition, public agencies would be required to provide financial information web.
"By requiring all publicly-funded organizations to follow the letter and spirit of open government laws, we can begin to take the steps needed to eliminate waste and take control of public finances," she said.
