By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
Stockton and 88 other rural New Jersey municipalities will not have to pay for state police coverage as the administration had sought, now that a state council has ruled such a charge would be an unfunded mandate.
Mayor Stephen Giocondo said he is relieved by the Council on Local Mandates’ ruling last week.
The borough’s share would have amounted to $25,624 in 2009.
Stockton does not have its own police force and relies on the state police for coverage.
The state does not charge the towns for the service, but the change is being pushed by the administration in a tough budget year. The administration had proposed a charge of $12.6 million be collected from the towns, a fraction of the $87 million cost.
For Stockton’s property owners, a charge for the state police to patrol the borough would have meant paying at least .04 cents for every $100 of assessed value, the mayor said, or an additional $144 on a house assessed at the average of $360,000.
Earlier this year, the state had given a Dec. 15 deadline to towns, saying they must either pay in 2009 or find another way to protect their communities. But last week’s ruling by the Council on Local Mandates seems to make the deadline moot.
The council became involved when some of the towns filed complaints.
The mayors of Shiloh and Southampton Township filed complaints July 2.
Deerfield Township filed July 3; the mayor of Rocky Hill, July 8; Shamong Township, July 11; Upper Deerfield and Buena Vista townships, July 14; the mayor of Lawrence Township in Cumberland County, July 15; the mayor of Estell Manor, July 17; Millstone Township, July 21; and Commercial Township and Wrightstown, July 23.
Maurice River Township filed a complaint Aug. 1, Woodland Township filed Aug. 11, and Mannington Township filed Aug. 12.
No decision by the council has ever been overturned, according to council Executive Administrator Patricia A. Meyer, although the attorney general’s office has said it is considering all options.
The council’s judgments are not subject to review by the state’s administration, the courts or the Legislature.
Under the state constitution, the council has the authority to determine whether a state regulation or law constitutes an unfunded mandate. It is independent of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the state government.
An amendment to the constitution in 1995 says if the state makes a ruling, the state must pay for it. That amendment led to the creation of the council in 1996.
The eight council members serve by appointment. The governor appoints four members for four years, two of whom come from a list provided by the chairman of the opposing party. The Senate president, the Senate minority leader and the speaker of the Assembly each appoint one member for a two-year term. The chief justice of the Supreme Court appoints one member to a five-year term.
Sylvia B. Pressler is the council’s chairwoman. She retired in 2004 after 20 years as presiding judge of the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court. She is the author and editor of “Rules Governing the Courts of the State of New Jersey.”
Victor R. McDonald III is vice chairman of the council. He is a professor of political science at Rider University.
The other members are Leanna Brown, chairwoman of the New Jersey Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and a former state senator and assemblywoman; attorney Timothy Q. Karcher; Rita E. Papaleo, who works in recruitment and training for Google Inc.; Ryan J. Peene, a public affairs associate with Capital Impact Group in Trenton; Jack Tarditi, former mayor and councilman of Haddonfield; and Janet L. Whitman, former mayor and councilwoman of Summit.

