Gov. Chris Christie recently said he can punt a football into Mendham Township from his home in the Borough.
Mendham Township Mayor Richard Krieg says ultimately the Mendhams need to come back together.
While these two leaders come from two different perspectives, they both acknowledge that the current system is expensive and redundant.
In this time of enormous economic stress, we need to work toward combining administrations throughout the state's 566 municipalities.
The Mendhams have talked, studied, or voted to merge their two towns. But the concept has never moved forward, as the studies have shown there always seems to be one winner and one loser.
If Mendham Township and Mendham Borough combined, they would still only make up another small town of about 10,000. As the former mayor of Long Hill, a town of about 9,000, I know the cost to run the town was carried by about 3,000 households. That burden is too great. If only two towns merge, we just don't get the significant savings and improved services that we've been promised.
So let's broaden our thinking beyond the two town merger. The Mendhams and adjacent Chester Borough and Chester Township currently share a recreation department. Why? Because it is a much more efficient department.
The arrangement provides much better combined services than the four towns could do individually. These towns must expand these savings across the departments that make up the majority of the town budget: police, public works, administrative costs and physical plant operations. Just imagine the savings!
This concept expands even further when you examine the West Morris High School district. The Chesters, the Mendhams and Washington Township all support this regional high school district under one superintendant. It is an arrangement they have enjoyed since the public voted to combine their high schools under one administration in 1958.
Let's follow that model for the West Morris municipalities. By connecting Chester Township, Chester Borough, Mendham Township, Mendham Borough and Washington Township under a single administration, there would be significant savings without any losers.
This is the right model for the future of New Jersey. Let's get together and create this new vision for New Jersey - one where no town loses its identity and all property taxpayers win.
Gina Genovese of Long Hill is executive director of Courage to Connect New Jersey. For more information about the non-profit, non-partisan organization, please visit www.couragetoconnectnj.org
Subscribe to this comment's feed
written by ugg boots, July 12, 2010
-
- +0
-
-
There was a frenzy in Chester Township a couple of months ago when the police chief was forced to retire. The township, anticipating a merger vote for the Chesters in Nov. opted instead to keep him on as a consultant so that we would not have two chiefs to pay for in a merged town.
The members of the PBA, their friends, and family tried to stop this with varying arguments like public safety would be risked, or that they officers who could not advance in rank would be emotionally harmed by this wait and see approach.
Until there are meaningful changes to collective bargaining rules and job protections, this won't happen. So.... it wont happen.