By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney made a quick stop in Princeton Wednesday to praise officials on the historic consolidation and learn how the process went.
Mr. Sweeney met with Mayor Liz Lempert, three council members and others in town hall for about an hour, to inquire about the merger and see what things state government can do to make it easier for other towns interested in taking the same step.
”I think when you show the success of things like this, smart people start looking (and saying), ‘Hey, wait a minute, why can’t we do this over here?’” said Mr. Sweeney.
”You have really found a way to reduce cost, the true cost of government,” he said. “We don’t have that in this state, 565 towns, 600 school districts. It’s a lot of cost that goes with providing government.”
Mayor Lempert told of how the town saved $700,000 last year mainly through attrition, even before consolidation took effect. She said that this year, savings are ahead by 40 percent of projections.
Mr. Sweeney described himself as a proponent of shared services, something he has tried to advance during his political career as a lawmaker and a Gloucester County Freeholder. During his visit, Mr. Sweeney talked about shared services efforts he has been a part of, including backing a pilot program to have Gloucester County do countywide tax assessment. He said the program has succeeded, citing the consistency in how people are assessed from one town to the other.
Mr. Sweeney has sponsored a bill in the Legislature that would strip communities of some of their state aid if they fail to implement shared service opportunities that the state says would save them money. The bill would require a voter referendum in the communities to decide the issue if the local governing bodies refuse to act.
”I’m not arguing that the bill that I’m pushing fits everything because every situation’s different,” he said.
Mr. Sweeney came wanting to know about some of the challenges Princeton faced in merging the communities.
Anton Lahnston, chairman of the Consolidation Commission, felt state government was late in coming on board to support consolidation. He referenced Gov. Chris Christie’s pledge in September 2011 to contribute state funds to defray some of the costs.
”That, in my view, was helpful and totally insufficient,” he said.
There are some legal hurdles to consolidating or sharing services, one being that some municipal employees have tenure.
”It’s almost impossible to merge a police department if you don’t have a chief retiring because you wind up with two chiefs the way the law is. So we’ve got to change it,” Mr. Sweeney said.
