Shared Services

In an effort to help towns save money by joining forces, Monmouth County government officials are encouraging municipalities to share services.

Monmouth County government officials have entered into a shared services agreement with Brookdale Community College in an effort to save money and increase their I.T. services.

Legislation that would push local governments to share services, in part by threatening to withhold funds if they don’t, is again moving in the Senate.

Attacking current approaches to shared services as "awful," Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon is pushing a plan that he says would result in more efficient policing and savings for taxpayers.

Gov. Chris Christie says he's finally found the secret formula to lower property taxes in the Garden State -- although it's not really a secret at all.

Any bill that doesn't pass both houses of the New Jersey Legislature by this coming Monday will die and have to be reintroduced when the new legislature takes over Tuesday. One such bill that appears to be in jeopardy is a measure that would force towns to share services where it makes sense, or risk losing state aid equal to the amount that would have been saved.

There is no more ardent advocate for requiring New Jersey towns to share services, if it makes sense, than state Sen. President Steve Sweeney.

A vote on a referendum that took place on Sept. 24 has created a single regional pre-K- Grade 12 school district for Lambertville, Stockton and West Amwell Township in the southern part of Hunterdon County.  Gov. Chris Christie and many legislators have been urging consolidation for years as a way to lower New Jersey's highest-in-the-nation average property tax bills.

A bill that would penalize towns that refuse to share services passed the full State Senate in late November of 2012, but it's been gathering dust in the Assembly ever since. Sen. President Steve Sweeney sponsors the measure.

An increasing number of New Jersey towns have turned to privatizing services that were handled by the public sector for decades.