Shared Services

[Editor]

In today's Record:

Despite Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan ("Consolidation of services is not the answer," Other Views, Aug. 24), sharing services among local governments is an effective means in turning the tide of rising property taxes.

Over the past few years, municipal budgets have continued to escalate despite the best efforts of our mayors and councils to cut costs and save money for local taxpayers. One of the reasons municipal budgets are so high is the cost of individual municipal services. And in Bergen County, with our 70 municipalities, 68 police departments and 80 school districts, we have to provide a lot of services.

However, it wasn't always this way. Just 120 years ago, there were only 14 townships in Bergen County, and these townships shared among them a handful of school districts. Then, in 1894, the Legislature passed a law that made each township a separate school district and required taxpayers to pay, pro rata, existing debts of the old districts and all future debts for new districts. This created a rush of 1894 "boroughitis" in Bergen County in which 23 "boroughs" were carved from the original townships.

I believe this period is when Bergen residents started to become very comfortable with the concept of "home rule." We like the idea that we know our police chiefs by their first names, that our fire department and ambulance corps volunteers are our neighbors, and that we can see our town's municipal logo on the side of our own Public Works trucks. The reality is that this level of service costs a great deal more than if we were able to share some of the operating costs of municipal services with other government entities.

I believe that the current economic climate requires us to work together for the common good. Lonegan has promoted a regional high school and shared police force, road maintenance and municipal court services for Bogota. He should return to his roots and join me in the fight to eliminate duplicative government services.

Dennis McNerney

Hackensack, Aug. 25

The writer is Bergen County executive.

[ericmartindale]

I'm wondering if McNerny has read "Cities Without Suburbs"  by David Rusk. The central theme of Rusk's work is to promote city/county consolidations. During a consolidation, the borders of the primary city expand outwards to encompass the entire County.  Believe it or not, this is commonly done throughout the United States, it's just not done in the northeastern region.

After the consolidation, there are no more municipalities, and either the city of the county government can itself be eliminated. They become one in the same. Rusk goes to great lengths to explain that such consolidations are crucial to advance both economic prosperity and integration. Rusk discusses both economic and racial integration, and he documents quite conclusively that the CONCENTRATION and ISOLATION of poor minority groups into older urban neighborhoods is the root cause of high crime and various social ills, including failing schools.  I believe Rusk is correct on that point, and for those who have doubts, read the book. Although such a position could be (and has been) attacked by liberals and minority leaders in places such as Richmond, Rusk is no conservative - he is a self-described liberal. His statistical comparisons between "similar" metropolitan areas (consolidated and unconsolidated) around the United States is quite shocking and eye-opening. 

In huge areas of the country, city/county mergers are not some crazy new idea, they are the NORM. Rusk documents that these are the healthiest and least crime-ridden metropolitan areas. Rusk believes that city/county mergers essentially "open up" the rest of the County to integration, thus diluting the concentrations of poverty in the urban center at the core of the County. 

Now lets get back to reality. Rusk has detailed EXACTLY what the rest of Bergen County doesn't want.  They don't want economic or racial integration. Instead, the rest of Bergen County wants all the poverty and social services to be concentrated into Hackensack.  In fact, our County Administrator, Tim Dacey, openly supports all poverty and social services even further concentrating into Hackensack.  And he ridicules the idea that Hackensack opposes it. Dacey's vision is the norm in Bergen County, and that is why Rusk's grand ideas will never fly in Bergen County.  If the State were to move in this direction, Bergen County towns would surely lead the opposition

And if for some unknown reason a city/county merger were to happen in Bergen County,  I personally believe that the rest of the County would continue to "gang up" on Hackensack. It would be business as usual with one crucial difference: Hackensack would be without any level of local government to resist the onslaught of new social services and poverty programs. And without any local control over zoning and planning, the situation would rapidly deteriorate.

Unless there would be some level of local authority remaining in Hackensack, I would never support a full city/county consolidation between Hackensack and Bergen County. Nevertheless, I do support the idea of Hackensack absorbing South Hackensack and Teterboro, and I believe it would amount to a massive reduction in tax bills paid by Hackensack homeowners.

[Editor]

In today's "Your Views" in The Record:

What happened to those vast geographic entities shown in the Walker Atlas of Bergen County, printed at the time of our nation's centennial? Its Bergen County was composed of a few extensive townships. Palisades and Englewood townships, for example, stretched from the Hudson River to the Hackensack.

When large areas such as Hackensack evolved into railroad hubs and central dock areas for shipping, they acquired greater needs. They paved roadways in response to appeals from affluent residents. Farmers in rural sections to the north would not consider paying for those portions that traversed their homesteads.

The issues of who would pay for common services would eventually expand. In the end, neighborhoods incorporated so that they might be masters of their own fate. Some established themselves upon old boundary lines, others by religious or ethnic affiliations. It is a wonder more didn't incorporate, such as the Coytesville section in Fort Lee or the Spring Valley section in the heart of Paramus.

The concept of sharing municipal services being debated today is not new. In actuality, it proposes a return to the Bergen County system of more than 100 years ago. Only the questions have changed. Do we want your paid fire department? Do we want your police contract? Do we want your school system? No community wanted to shoulder an unfair burden 100 years ago, and that feeling has never changed.

The advantage we have is that today's problems are visible and recognizable. Our forbears were scared by unknowns and perceived inequities; we have the luxury of knowing answers and choosing our alliances. All we have to lose are our egos.

Michael P. Gorman

Oradell, Sept. 19

The writer is a member of the Bergen County Historical Society and the Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus.

[ericmartindale]

The Record printed another article today, page A-6, entitled "Voters may get say on mergers".  Bill Dressel, Executive Director of the League of Municipalities, gave support to the initiative, although it was only a luke-warm support.  He wants the people in each town to have a say, if a merger happens.   They are discussing putting together a panel that will review possible mergers, and then put the plan to the State Legislature for a single up-or-down vote within 2 years.

The panel is also drafting legislation that will allow binding county referendums on whether or not counties should assume tax assessment and collection, animal control, and public health services from all the municipalitiies in the County.  These are some of the types of services that proponents believe can be "regionalized", and would be run more efficiently at the County level, rather than have each town do it.

[Editor]

Latest story:  Hackensack to sweep Maywood streets

Good example of shared-services.

[Editor]

Latest story:  Saving your tax dollars

Hackensack and seven other towns -- Rochelle Park, Maywood, Elmwood Park, Saddle Brook, Garfield, Fair Lawn and Paramus -- formed the Central Bergen Consortium six months ago.

"All of us have home rule and local identities we're trying to protect," Lo Iacono said. "But the environment is changing. We're getting a number of indications from Trenton that there will be incentives [to share services]. That's giving all of us an impetus to explore the possibilities."

The towns hope to share public works equipment and make joint purchases.

[Editor]

Latest story:  Pascack Valley towns aim to cut costs

Hackensack, Rochelle Park, Maywood, Elmwood Park, Saddle Brook, Garfield, Fair Lawn and Paramus formed the Central Bergen Consortium a year ago to look into buying police cars and health insurance as a group.

[Editor]

Towns team up for recycling collection
Friday, September 10, 2010
BY KARTHIK AGGARWAL
Hackensack Chronicle
STAFF WRITER

BOGOTA — An agreement between Bogota and Hackensack for recycling collection was announced last week at a press conference held jointly by Bogota Mayor Patrick McHale and Hackensack Mayor Karen Sasso at Borough Hall. Under the agreement, which began in July, Hackensack will pick up Bogota’s recycling for the next three years. Each Wednesday, Hackensack’s Department of Public Works collects either commingled recyclables or mixed paper from Bogota households.

"If more towns see that this is happening, more towns will get involved," County Executive Dennis McNerney said of the shared services agreement. "This is a positive. It may be a small step, but in the bigger scheme of things, just by seeing a Hackensack truck in Bogota it keeps the momentum going. We’re proud that these two — borough and city — stepped up."

"This is especially important now because of the Governor’s Best Practices initiative," McHale said, referring to Governor Christie’s recently released reform agenda on municipal government practices and spending.

According to a news release, under the shared services agreement, Hackensack’s DPW transports Bogota’s recyclables to Green Sky Industries, a recycling company in Clifton. Bogota receives all the revenue from the sale of the recyclables. Hackensack is paid for the service with revenue from the sale of recyclables, grant money or a reduction in the seasonal help budget of Bogota’s DPW. Hackensack is paid $1,250 per week for its services.

"For $65,000 per year, Hackensack is doing our recycling," McHale said. "It cost us well over $70,000, plus costs for personnel and wear and tear on trucks."

Sasso said that the arrangement is mutually beneficial.

"It benefits Hackensack because we’re able to bring some income in, and we’re also in a position then to more fully utilize something that we already have in place," she said, referring to Hackensack’s DPW. "We’re not adding an expense to ourselves. It’s a very symbiotic relationship."

"We’re in an economic time where it’s becoming more and more evident to every municipality that any opportunities that are there, you have to take advantage of them before you actually are struck with the need," she said of shared services.

Sasso added that Hackensack would be open to sharing other services beyond recycling with Bogota.

"There are many opportunities that haven’t been explored yet that we’re always willing to take a look at," she said.

At present, Bogota has shared services agreements with Ridgefield Park for salt storage and gasoline supply, McHale said. The borough is also exploring a joint truck washing facility with Ridgefield Park and will use a recently awarded $30,000 county grant to study merging police departments with Teaneck.

"We have been sharing services. You’re seeing it everywhere," McHale said. "With 70 towns in the county, it’s time that we start sharing."

E-mail: aggarwal@northjersey.com

[just watching]

I don't think it made the papers, but a month ago Hackensack took over some of the DPW duties for Maywood as well.  Not sure if it is garbage collection or recycling.

[Editor]

City joins municipalities in shared service study
Friday, December 21, 2012
BY  JENNIFER VAZQUEZ
NEWS EDITOR
Hackensack Chronicle

HACKENSACK — With the hope of minimizing cost, while gaining a more effective and efficient infrastructure in services, Hackensack will join Bergenfield, Bogota, New Milford, Englewood and Teaneck —in a community collaborative under the name "Northern New Jersey Foundation" —in applying for a Bergen County grant for the purpose of studying a shared endeavor.

Through this collaborative effort, the foundation has applied for a Shared Services Feasibility Study Program Grant, totaling $19,200, to be awarded and administered by the foundation on behalf of all the municipalities that make it up.

"We applied for a grant from the county to conduct this study," Hackensack Mayor Michael Malfi said.

According to Hackensack City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono the resolution that was passed during the council meeting is actually an endorsing resolution.

"The resolution is an endorsing resolution," Lo Iacono said. "This group is making an application to the county for a grant, which will fund a study of all our construction offices and try to establish a benchmark for what the construction office is costing each of these communities."

The resolution states that the grant request is to offer the entities, involved in the collaborative, service delivery alternatives that could improve the effectiveness, efficiency and cost of the construction offices in each town.

"The firm that is conducting this has some different ways to measure the costs and we believe it will provide useful data for the future of all municipalities involved," Malfi said "It may also help start discussions about shared services between the towns as well."

Lo Iacono explained the study that will take place.

"[The study will be able] to benchmark costs in terms of per capita, population, amount of construction, those kinds of units of measurement, so that we'll be able to compare, on some kind of a consistent basis, what our construction offices are costing us compared to those in, lets say, Teaneck or Englewood," Lo Iacono said. "This, of course, is an eye towards the future possibility of shared services, or consolidation in that area among different communities."

Englewood Mayor Frank Huttle is delighted with the foundation and the goals that could be attained through the study and is "exploring all opportunities" with Hackensack, neighboring Teaneck, as well as other communities.

"I'm pleased we have a private entity in [Northern New Jersey Foundation] that has been working with various communities, as well as Bergen County, in this study," he said. "We need a catalyst to more effectively run governments."

According to Hackensack's resolution, the entities involved in the collaborative have joined forces to "minimize the effects of New Jersey's fragmented municipal structure, reduce redundancies in services and infrastructure, and catalyze collective efforts to produce significant, widely shared, and lasting results to the effectiveness, efficiency, and cost of delivering local government services to the public."

"We need to take a hard look and take down the walls that are prohibiting us from joining together in services," Huttle said.

According to Huttle, results of the study should be made available within the upcoming months.

Email: vazquez@northjersey.com or call 201-894-6708

[Editor]

This topic is merges the "Other towns merging with Hackensack " and other related topics.

[just watching]

I can tell everyone, as a home improvement contractor, that the bigger cities are more difficult to deal with in terms of the building departments. They take longer for everything, they don't care, and it's just a big bureaucracy.  Is that what we want to make in Central Bergen County???   Imagine having to wait a week for the inspector to come look at footings, to measure the 36" deep before you pour concrete.  Just did a project with footings in Maplewood, and the inspector came out in  A FEW HOURS. That way the project can flow along.  I actually dug the footings and poured the concrete in the same day.

 By contrast, Jersey City has the worst building department in New Jersey. I dread having to do any work there. I don't want to work in Jersey City just because I hate the Building Department there.  It takes 3 weeks to get a building permit, and you have to schedule an appointment just to talk to someone other than a secretary.

I thought the city wanted to make things MORE INVITING for developers and contractors to invest here.

I think the idea has some merit, in terms of small towns like Bogota.  There's not enough going on to justify the salaries of the staff, and a nearby town like Teaneck or Hackensack could theoretically handle their load.  Or maybe to combine Bergenfield and New Milford's building departments.  But to combine Teaneck, Hackensack, and Englewood, and add the other towns, that would be a nightmare.  In a word, it'll be Jersey City.

[Editor]

Record Talk Radio to focus on shared services
Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2013 2:08 pm
by John Ensslin

Join us on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 10 a.m. when our topic on Record Talk Radio will be the state of shared services in Bergen County.
 
Our guests will be Allen Rapaport, a Norwood councilman and Michael Shannon, founder and president of the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation.
 
Rapaport, currently serving his third term on the council, was appointed by Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan last year to lead a volunteer effort at exploring ways the county’s 70 municipalities can share services.
 
Shannon is involved in collaborative effort with six Bergen County towns to find ways to save tax dollars by sharing services. The towns involved are Bergenfield, Bogota, Englewood, Hackensack, New Milford and Teaneck.

Shared service is a hot topic in Bergen County where municipalities are struggling to stay within their two-percent revenue revenue cap and still provide services that residents expect.
 
However, much of the news on this topic of late has focused on the debate over the saving in consolidating law enforcement. In this program, we’ll look at some other area where towns have found ways to collaborate.
 
If you have questions you’d like me to ask during the program, send your suggestions along to me at ensslin@northjersey.com.
 
Click here to listen to the program live or hear it later as a podcast.

[Editor]

Shared service movement slowed by “fiefdoms”
Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2013 6:26 pm
by John Ensslin

I had a fascinating conversation today with two Bergen County men who have spent a fair amount of time thinking and talking about ways the county’s 70 towns can save taxpayer dollars by sharing services.
 
My guests on Record Talk Radio this morning were Allen Rapaport, a Norwood councilman who heads a volunteer county wide push for shared services and Michael Shannon, who been leading a similar effort within six of those towns.
 
When I asked Rapaport for his view of the state of shared services in the county, he outlined some success stories and applauded the work being done by the six towns working with Shannon.
 
But he also offered a candid assessment, which you can read in this edited excerpt.
 
“If I tell you that we’re close to really making terrific headway, I would be lying,” he said.

“…There is this feeling of fiefdoms, is the best way I can say it, that nobody wants to give up control, nobody wants to give up home rule, nobody wants to give up anything without some sort of say so.
 
“I know that there have been individual discussions with the county executive and staff with almost every municipality. She has sent out a letter about a year ago and got tremendous response from people coming in to speak with her and the staff about things on the mind of elected officials and possible opportunities.
 
“I must say that Michael’s group has been the only group – these six towns (Bergenfield, Bogota, Hackensack, Englewood, New Milford and Teaneck) – that are truly moving forward and with open minds.”
 
“I’ve visited a lot of towns and it’s ‘well when the county does this first, we’ll do X.’ And you know, that’s not really managing.
 
“…Think about your taxpayers, that’s what got you elected. You got elected not for business as usual, but how do we move forward into 2013, 2020, 2025?
 
“How do we continue to make Bergen County an area where young people can continue to move in and older residents can survive?
 
“And that’s my issue with a lot of elected officials, that we really need to look, not at business as usual, but what can we do going forward.”

Listen to internet radio with recordtalkradio on Blog Talk Radio

________________________________
This book was referenced in the podcast: New Jersey's Mulitple Municipal Madness

See also: The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation

[Whitey]

See below - A typical example of resistance to shared services

Consolidation talk worries Teaneck police dispatchers
Friday, February 1, 2013

BY  DENISA R. SUPERVILLE
STAFF WRITER
The Record

Police dispatchers fear that they may lose their jobs if the township switches its dispatch service to the county from the current in-house operation.

But township officials say the discussions with Bergen County are still preliminary, and county representatives visited the Teaneck police headquarters on Wednesday only to examine the radio and telecommunications equipment and observe how the department is run.

The township initially planned to consolidate dispatch for the police and fire departments and ambulance services at the police headquarters — a move that would have increased the number of dispatchers to 14 from seven and allowed one firefighter to return to departmental duties.

However, when county officials said last month that they were considering providing services at the $12.4 million Public Safety Operation Center in Mahwah free to the municipalities, Teaneck expressed interest, Township Manager William Broughton said Thursday.

Since the center opened in 2010, only 20 of Bergen County's 70 municipalities have signed contracts to route their 911 calls through the center, including 11 that also receive dispatches for police officers, firefighters and ambulances.

"Economics is one part of the equation," Broughton said. "But it's also driven by the quality of service that they can provide."

Broughton said the county communications center provides services that are much more comprehensive than the township's Teaneck's. The county also has built-in backups that make its communications and radio systems more reliable, he said.

"It includes a high level of redundancy, and it may be a viable option for the township," Broughton said.

"If it's not free, we have to look at the cost. But because the county has said it may be free or some portion may be free, it's incumbent upon us as good stewards of the public's money to look at this. We have to examine it."

Courtney Challener, one of the seven police dispatchers, said her colleagues were first informed about a month ago that the township was considering switching, but they became more concerned when the county representatives showed up this week.

Although the dispatchers were told that if Teaneck switched, they could apply for jobs at the county center, there was no guarantee they would get those jobs, she said.

The county's starting salary is also lower, she said. Township dispatchers start at $43,653, under the union's contract, Broughton said.

But the dispatchers, some of whom grew up in Teaneck, were most concerned about how any possible switch could affect the public, she said.

The dispatchers know the officers and the township, which has a population of close to 40,000, and use that knowledge on a daily basis to quickly and efficiently respond to calls for assistance from both the public and from officers, she said.

"It's really not personal, I just don't think [the county] can handle it," she said. "We know they can take on the smaller towns, but Teaneck is a really huge town."

Police Chief Robert A. Wilson, who has toured the county facility, said he will not recommend any switch unless it's an improvement. The current equipment is aging, and some needs to be replaced, he said.

The county system "is certainly designed for doing large-scale multijurisdictional dispatch," he said.

"My real concern is to have this improved," Wilson said Wednesday. "We are not seeking the change for the sake of changing. It needs to be better. It needs to be as professional as possible. That's the goal."

Email: superville@northjersey.com