|
Dear Mayor:
On Monday, the General Assembly approved A-15, which establishes a "Local Unit Alignment, Reorganization, and Consolidation Commission"; establishes measures for local government efficiency; appropriates $95,000.
The League opposed this bill; however we acknowledged that A-15 was an improvement over previous versions of this proposal since it allowed for voter approval in each affected municipality. However, the State Senate has now scheduled a different bill for a vote, S-1, which also creates a “Local Unit Alignment, Reorganization and Consolidation Commission.
S-1 differs in a very important regard: it punishes voters who decide to reject consolidation.
Section 8(b)1 reads,
“…If consolidation is not approved, the State aid for which (insert the name of the participating local unit) is eligible shall be withheld for five years and thereafter shall be subject to significant reductions.”
Section 9 reads, in part,
“In the event that the majority of the voters in a municipality do not approve a consolidation proposal put before those voters…, the municipality shall for a period of three State fiscal years commencing from the first day of the fiscal year next following that election be ineligible for “Supplemental Municipal Property Tax Relief Act” extraordinary aid…”
State aid to municipalities is revenues generated by taxpayers. At one time, most of these revenues were collected by local governments, but now are collected by the State under the pretext that it is more efficient. Despite statutory language that aid is to be adjusted for inflation, it has remained flat for years.
We believe this new language, in a bill that was introduced on Monday, was not heard by a committee and sent directly to the floor for a vote, punishes the voters if they fail to vote they way the Legislature wants.
Please contact your State Senator and ask that this new language is S-1 be removed. And if the language is not removed, ask them to oppose S-1.
Questions on this can be directed to Mike Cerra at mcerra@njslom.com or at (609) 695-3481 x20. Copies of the bill can be obtained from Sue DeLany at (609) 695-3481 x14.
Thank you. |
