Assembly Speaker aims to scale back size of government. Proposes shared services, reforms for property tax relief to aid N.J. residents

05/24/06  
BY MICHAEL DAIGLE
DAILY RECORD

PARSIPPANY -- Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts said Tuesday that a series of bills to be prepared over the summer will help cut the size of government in New Jersey.

Without changes in the way governments consolidate services, Roberts said, "there can be no property tax relief."

His aim is for the Assembly to begin work in September to reform the laws that nowinhibit municipalities, counties and schools to share services.

Roberts, a Democrat, speaking to the editorial board of the Daily Record, said the planned legislation would replace the current 337 separate laws on the topic with a "single uniform modern law authorizing the consolidation and sharing of services among and between local governmental units."

He proposed to change the use of the state's municipal block grant program, which in the past was used as an inducement to share serves, so that the state would only send money to municipalities that showed government efficiencies.

Among the proposals, Roberts said are:

• Changes in Civil Service rules for towns that seek to merge services.

• New broad duties for county school superintendents toenable them to be involved in local school budgets and other decisions.

• Elimination of the state's 23 nonoperating school districts within a year.

• Authorize referendums that would create K-12 school districts.

nReform the state's school funding formula.

• End pension practices that boost payouts.

• Move school board and fire district elections to November.

• Eliminate public voting on school budgets that are under the state budget growth cap.

• Require all municipalities to post annual budgets and details of employment contracts on a website.

Roberts said 26 states hold school board elections in November.

Morris perspective

Morris County Republican Freeholder Frank Druetzler said Roberts should be commended for putting forth the proposals. He called the budding reform effort "good news."

Druetzler has called for the elimination of the nonoperating school districts, such as Victory Gardens, more than once.

"If they cannot eliminate those districts, there is no chance to reform government,"he said.

Druetzler said he has called for the elimination of the county school superintendents because the job duplicates work done in Trenton. He said if the job had real authority to supervise local schools, he would reconsider.

Roberts said the time to change the county school superintendents' job is now because 15 of the 21 superintendents are up for reappointment at the end of the year. It is the time, he said, to replace those office holders with new "super"county superintendents who would be appointed by the governor. Roberts said Gov. Jon S. Corzine supports this plan.

'New' superintendents

The county superintendents would be required to show progress in shared service agreements as a condition of a 2-year contract, and would not be allowed to leave the county job for another school job in the same county.

Roberts said a school aid reform and accountability task force of legislators and the public would be formed and expected to recommend by September an "equitable and adequate"new public school funding formula that reflects a community's ability to pay for its schools, among other tasks.

He said that any discussion on school funding must involve how to fund schools in the 31 Abbott districts and the reform of the School Construction Corporation, which is under investigation for waste and fraud.

Roberts said he would not approve any money for the SCC until adequate safeguards are in place, and said it might be time to consider funding the Abbott districts at a state average cost per student, rather than at levels measured in the richest school districts.

Pensions, too

The reforms also include enacting pension system changes suggested by Corzine's benefits review task force that would return the state pension system to its original purpose, funding the retirements of career employees, not those of political appointees.

Corzine called for pension reform in the 2007 state budget, including the elimination of pension credit for professional services, the use of multiple public jobs to boost pensions, and capping sick leave at $15,000 for all public employees, Roberts said.

The system has to change, Roberts said, "because the status quo is expensive."