By Michael Symons March 27, 2017 9:58 PM
Ten years ago this month, a state law was enacted encouraging more municipal consolidations as a method for saving money and reducing property taxes.
In the decade since, there’s been just one merger – the combining of Princeton borough and township.
Now a less ambitious update to the effort is on Gov. Chris Christie’s desk. It seeks to clarify some of the rules and tools though does include a few wrinkles – such as allowing towns to merge that are near each other but aren’t directly neighbors.
Sen. Bob Gordon, D-Bergen, said he doesn’t foresee a surge of municipal consolidations because of the bill – though he does think local voters will look at the prospects more willingly as costs keep rising.
“There’s no reason why two small towns next to each other or close to each other shouldn’t get together and try to save some money,” Gordon said.
Read More: Bill aims to merge NJ towns — even when they aren’t neighbors | https://nj1015.com/bill-aims-to-promote-municipal-mergers-even-if-towns-arent-neighbors/?trackback=tsmclip
This MAY be beneficial for a pair of towns that are two tiny “equals” but it is not good for a wealthy large town like Ridgewood which would ultimately bear the brunt of the financial burden while seeing a decline in services and a loss of control.
.
Really?
I thought you had a nice little village on your hands there Bub.
You can’t have it both ways.
And besides, if you think there has not been a decline in services and a COMPLETE loss of control I’ll refer you to the last council meeting of said large town. Good luck with that.
Ridgewood can remain a Village and share services with one or two other towns. One school superintendent , one police chief, one fire chief, not so many libraries, not so much funds spent on popular best sellers coming from tax dollars, not every library needs multiple copies of Danielle Steele type books, one water superintendent and the like. Other states in U.S. do this. New Jersey, no, because it is corrupt and greedy. This is a general plan. Maybe Ridgewood because it is large would share with Ho Ho Kus. Get it. It would save millions in taxes. Govt, municipal employees really working efficiently and yes, working hard, could make it happen. It’ll neva happen Joisey. Unless the people holla. holler
Well the 7% tax increase our Mayor proposed on Monday is going to make mergers look a lot better.
If you think we have a nice LITTLE village, you are deluding yourself.
.
Look where we stand among the 70 towns in Bergen County:
..
Top 10 Towns by population in Bergen County:
(Ridgewood is #10)
.
MUNICIPALITY POPULATION
=========================
1) Hackensack 43,010
2) Teaneck 39,776
3) Fort Lee 35,345
4) Fair Lawn 32,457
5) Garfield 30,487
6) Englewood 27,147
7) Bergenfield 26,764
8) Paramus 26,342
9) Mahwah 25,890
10) Ridgewood 24,958
.
Top 20 Towns by Avg Single Family Home Price in Bergen County:
(Ridgewood is #12)
.
MUNICIPALITY AVERAGE PRICE
=================================
1) Alpine $2,389,753
2) Rockleigh $2,312,618
3) Saddle River $1,463,864
4) Englewood Cliffs $1,181,316
5) Franklin Lakes $1,006,664
6) Tenafly $965,869
7) Upper Saddle River $919,582
8) Old Tappan $884,777
9) Demarest $879,042
10) Edgewater $838,372
11) Ho-Ho-Kus $779,974
12) Ridgewood $760,533
13) Wyckoff $733,524
14) Fort Lee $724,445
15) Allendale $717,792
16) Cresskill $712,807
17) Closter $672,654
18) Woodcliff Lake $671,093
19) Mahwah $667,923
20) Montvale $645,246
.
Top 10 Towns by Area (Total Sq Miles) in Bergen County:
(Ridgewood is #8)
.
Municipality Total Sq Miles
=================================
1) Mahwah 26.19
2) Paramus 10.52
3) Franklin Lakes 9.85
4) Alpine 9.23
5) Oakland 8.73
6) Wyckoff 6.61
7) Teaneck 6.23
8) Ridgewood 5.82
9) Ramsey 5.59
10) Upper Saddle River 5.28
.
Top 20 Towns by Number of Housing Units in Bergen County:
(Ridgewood is #13)
.
Municipality Housing Units
==============================
1) Hackensack 19,375
2) Fort Lee 17,818
3) Teaneck 14,024
4) Fair Lawn 12,266
5) Garfield 11,788
6) Englewood 10,695
7) Cliffside Park 10,665
8) Lodi 10,127
9) Mahwah 9,868
10) Bergenfield 9,200
11) Paramus 8,915
12) Lyndhurst 8,787
13) Ridgewood 8,743
14) Elmwood Park 7,385
15) Palisades Park 7,362
16) Rutherford 7,278
17) North Arlington 6,573
18) Dumont 6,542
19) New Milford 6,362
20) Edgewater 6,282
thanks nice work
Ha Ha Ha … good one.
– Want to put one superintendent in charge of a “regional” school district – great way to drive down the (already declining) value of a RW education – also a good way to reduce the uniqueness of a RW education – and drive down the value of RW homes.
– we already have one library (the RW library) – have you taken a look at the HoHokus library – its more like an historic site showing what libraries used to look like in the early 1900s. Also regionalizing the library will just fuel the library zealots to build an even bigger regional arts center
– I can go on, but you get the picture (or do you?)
RW loses big time with any regionalization (look to the failed 911 center for an example – which SHOULD HAVE BEEN an EASY OBVIOUS WIN-WIN)
NO, Ho ho kus and glen rock can be part of Ridgewood. One school superintendent etc. One library. The schools won’t decline. There will still be good teachers and lots of computers. Many other states in the United States and towns for many years have one school superintendent etc. per city. New Jersey is just greedy. More is not needed. Town planners at Univ. like Rutgers and Princeton have been suggesting combining services for years.
Why is N.J. unique in the whole United States.
Continued from above. I just read the whole article; it is a great idea. And is explained very well.
When it comes to a vote, If it comes to a vote. I say yes.