IS CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN NJ ABOUT TO BECOME AN UNFUNDED MANDATE?

CAREN CHESLER | NOVEMBER 30, 2016

The state’s massive overhaul of the criminal justice system calls for new technologies and more personnel. The counties want to know where the money will come from.

As New Jersey prepares to implement a major overhaul of its criminal justice system in January, county governments will attempt to block the effort, claiming they will be forced to pay millions of dollars for new prosecutors, sheriff’s officers, and capital improvements with no help from the state.

The New Jersey Association of Counties estimates the reforms will cost each county $1 million to $2 million, an unfunded mandate they view as particularly challenging, given the caps passed in 2011 prohibiting governing bodies from raising their tax levies by more than 2 percent. The association, a nonprofit organization that represents all 21 counties in the state, plans to file a complaint on Friday with the New Jersey Council on Local Mandates, which was established in 1996 to consider laws, rules, and regulations that impose unfunded mandates on counties, municipalities, and school districts.

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