Eustace & Houghtaling Bill to Encourage Municipal Consolidation, Rein in Property Taxes Heads to Governor’s Desk
March 25,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood
Ridgewood NJ, Legislation sponsored by Assembly Democrats Tim Eustace and Eric Houghtaling to give towns better tools to pursue municipal consolidation and ultimately rein in property taxes gained final legislative approval from the full Assembly by a vote of 51-21-2 on Thursday.
The bill (S-690/A-2921) would promote municipal consolidation by increasing the flexibility, clarity and available tools under the “Uniform Shared Services and Consolidation Act” enacted in 2007. Although one of the primary purposes of this law is to promote consolidation by providing more procedural flexibility, to date, only one municipal consolidation has been effectuated since its enactment.
It’s about time…this is one way to bury the union thugs.
Finally. The FBI says we have 70% more cops per capital than the average state and they get paid 50% more. Which means we should merge the police deartments of Ridgewood, Glenrock, Ho Ho Kus, Waldwick and Midland Park. And stop setting speed traps everywhere to pay for all of those excess cops, that just drives up our already high insurance rates. And hire “specials” to do the extra duty work for PSE&G and Verizon. No need to cause scheduling issues for full time officers when the ranking officer pulls extra duty work.
Be careful folks….stepping toward Regional Consolidation which may not be the best for all towns. You’ll have less say in government, less voice in your own towns. This MUST be carefully applied and weighed.
Shelly, that’s the union line for blocking police dept consolidation. What’s your agenda?
RW will bear the brunt of the costs and get reduction in services since they would be the dominat player in the region.
Another union line
If Tim Useless sponsors it, it’s because it consolidates more power in his Democrat hands – like all the central planners. Proceed with caution
Obviously the union thugs know you only need one chief, and a lot less brass, for a consolidated police dept covering less than 10 square miles including Ridgewood, Glenrock, Ho Ho Kus, Waldwick and Midland Park. Means a lot less $100K pensions. Would also raise questions about excessive staffing and OT by combining all of these deots. Would allow for “specials” to handle extra duty work so regular officers aren’t facing scheduling issues.
RW and MP Mayors conflicted on Home rule