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Dear Mayor:
The Joint Committee on Consolidation and Shared Services met yesterday in Trenton. They received testimony from three presenters.
David Gruber, Assistant Commissioner, Department of Health and Senior Services provided the committee with an overview of the local public health services offered in New Jersey.
The local health departments and boards of health are required to provide the following 10 essential public health services:
- Monitor health status to identify community health problems;
- Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards;
- Inform, educate and empower people about health issues;
- Mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems;
- Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts;
- Enforce laws and regulations that protect health;
- Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable;
- Assure a competent public health and personal health care workforce;
- Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility and quality of personal and population based health services;
- Research for new insights and innovative solution to health problems.
He noted that the 566 municipalities receive local public health services as follows:
- 47 operate a stand alone department;
- 140 participate in an interlocal agreement to share services;
- 51 receive services from a regional health commission;
- 328 receive services from a county health department.
Mr. Gruber informed the committee that the trend in New Jersey and nationally is to consolidate services. He advised that savings should be sought in the administrative services end of health services. At this time however, there are not enough health professionals ("worker bees") in the workforce, actually providing services to support the needs that would arise in the event of a pandemic or other health emergency.
Next to appear was David Grubb, Executive Director, Municipal Excess Liability (MEL) Joint Insurance Fund (which serves JIF's and HIF's throughout New Jersey.) He testified on the role of joint insurance funds in New Jersey. He reviewed the history of joint insurance funds, described their proliferation throughout the municipal and school district world and provided estimates of savings since their inception of over $1 billion.
He compared improvements in accident rates among municipal employees and state government employees. For municipal employees, in 1991, the employee accident frequency for the municipalities that were members of the MEL was 5.7 lost time accidents per 100 employees, or approximately the national average for municipal government. Today, our accident rate is about 55% lower, or about 2.5 accidents per 100 employees. He informed the Committee that state government in comparison has accident rates of 4.5, fully 45% higher than the average of other states.
He went on to describe problems that exist in statutes that the legislature could correct to reduce the cost of insurance for all parties including the State of New Jersey. Among these were:
- Correct state law that now guarantees an employee practices lawsuit when an employee receives discipline;
- He advised that the consolidation of the North Hudson Fire District resulted in numerous EPL lawsuits that severely undercut any savings that might have resulted from the jointure. He advised that before the Legislature pursues consolidation they must fix the laws to protect the state and municipalities from these frivolous lawsuits that work against good public policy;
- Organize state government to implement an accident control system;
- Adopt former S-99 introduced, in the late 1980s, by Senator Raymond Lesniak, that would reduce the need for excess liability coverage for all public entities;
- Coordinate state mandates for training in the various departments that issue these requirements and assist municipalities and counties to understand the basic concepts that must be taught; eliminate duplication.
Lastly, John Bailey, Superintendent of the Chester County, Pennsylvania Intermediate Unit (Regional Educational Services Agency.) Mr. Bailey described the role of these units that provide common non-academic and limited academic services to school districts. Authorized by state law, these units are governed by a board made up of representatives of constituent boards of education. This service reduces the cost of the service by achieving economies of scale and removes administrative work from school districts thereby allowing them to concentrate and focus funding on academic instruction.
The intermediate unit budget is made up of the budgetary elements:
- Core – administrative and related services such as curriculum and assessment services, educational technology services, information technology services, building maintenance and legal and external relations services, funded through membership fees and administrative overhead charges;
- Categorical – regulatory compliance;
- Marketplace – these are services sold to districts that seek these services such as bulk purchasing, special education, vocational education, summer school, substitute calling and about 300 added services available on a request and fee for service basis.
Superintendent Bailey pointed out that consolidations in Pennsylvania, and he suspects in New Jersey, scare local officials and parents. Intermediate Units provide a way to achieve administrative efficiencies without threatening local control. He informed the committee in answer to a question about the Maryland county-based model the he would not want to be a parent of a kindergarten student in Maryland on the first day of school and the child missed the school bus. “Whom would I call?” Assemblyman Gordon commented that the Pennsylvania model might be a model that could reduce the cost of schools, but not incur the angst that school consolidation seems to generate.
The committee ended by canceling the September 20 meeting stating that the next meeting will take place on Wednesday, September 27 in Trenton. For more on yesterday’s proceedings, please contact Mike Cerra at mcerra@njslom.com or 609-695-3481 x20.
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