Organization Champions Consolidation

New Jersey’s government–and economy–won’t be sustainable in 2020, and a change in the state’s municipal structure needs to begin now or bankruptcy is inevitable, according to Courage to Connect NJ, an organization championing municipal consolidation for the purpose of cost-savings.

Led by former Long Hill Township Mayor Gina Genovese and Wendy McCahill, the group, launched in January of 2010, gave a 45-minute presentation at the Washington Township Library on Tuesday night to a svelte, but deeply-interested crowd, followed by a 45-minute question and answer session.

The duo introduced the group’s purpose and explained the three focal points of their presentation: the need to look at New Jersey differently; the need to look at towns and individual communities differently; and what exactly is the role of the tax payer in the consolidation process.

New Jersey has the greatest number of municipalities–566–per square mile in the United States. McCahill stood next to a table with three towers that consisted of 566 placards, each one stating a municipality’s name and population. McCahill then proceeded to take each card off the stack and stand it up to face the audience while Genovese went through the presentation.

Genovese explained all the different avenues New Jersey has attempted to traverse in order to boost revenue, from the implementation of income tax in the 1970s, to allowing gambling in Atlantic City and the stoppage of funding the pension systems.

“And now we have the 2-percent cap,” Genovese said. “My heart truly goes out to elected officials having to deal with this. In the long run, this will weaken a town. It’s extremely hard to deliver quality services and not raise taxes.”

Genovese cited her political experience as the catalyst to explore municipal consolidation. In 2006, Long Hill Township had a population of 9,000, with 3,100 households paying for the municipal structure, and, in her opinion, the town was just too small to continue that pattern, Genovese said.

The presentation then focused on Woodbridge Township, a model that Genovese and McCahill feel should be followed if towns decide to consolidate. Woodbridge includes 10 towns–always has–but is only one municipality, and the oldest existing township in New Jersey.

In a time when municipalities throughout the state are cutting back on services and personnel, Woodbridge has a fulltime mayor, planner, economic development officer and grant writer–who brings in anywhere from $6 to $12 million per year, Genovese said. The township’s IT department controls both the municipal and school district’s needs from a singular operation. The township also has the largest shared service contract in the history of New Jersey, according to Genovese, who said the municipality's custodial program saves $2.1 million per year.

McCahill continued to flip the individual placards.

“If you don’t make changes and try to become innovative, you’re going to go backward,” Genovese said. “If five or 10 towns came together to consolidate, Woodbridge Township would be a great model to follow.”

(Community) Identity Theft

A major obstacle in the consolidation process, according to Courage to Connect, is the potential loss of home rule, or a town’s identity.

“We’ve come across so many residents who say ‘I don’t want to be with those people,’” Genovese said. “But it takes everyone to be involved. Everyone has to be engaged if this is going to happen.”

If consolidation were to take place for a set of towns, those existing municipalities would still retain their ordinances, zoning and planning structures for the following six years, Genovese said.

McCahill continued to flip the individual placards.

The first step in a possible consolidation is to organize with neighboring municipalities and get everyone on the same track, Genovese said. Residents then have a right to petition to take a consolidation study, the first piece of analytical data that would show if consolidation among the participating towns would actually work.

A consolidation study could cost anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 according to McCahill. Courage to Connect feels so strongly about the consolidation effort, though, that the group is offering to fund the first study if a group of five to 10 towns band together and attempt to consolidate. An optimum total population of consolidating towns is 100,000 or less, McCahill said.

It Starts in School

Genovese and McCahill most recently gave a presentation in Mendham Township, and mentioned that the five municipalities–Washington Township, the Chesters and Mendhams–sharing a regional high school district is a perfect place to start the consolidation effort.

Elected officials and school board members from the municipalities will meet for a , and that’s where history can be made, according to Genovese.

“That’s the perfect opportunity to get this started,” she said. “Getting everyone at the table, sharing ideas and just seeing if it’s feasible–that’s where it begins. Then, it’s up the residents to decide.”

McCahill completed flipping all 566 individual placards, and stacked them into a lone tower at the side of the room. The tower stood more than 11 feet high when she was done.

Courage to Connect NJ has given more than 30 presentations throughout the state since it’s launch, and has three more scheduled before taking a break for summer and resuming in September.

During the presentation Genovese cited an 1895 New York Times article about the potential consolidation of the Oranges in New Jersey. In the article, numerous town officials and residents were quoted, and the town physician–a prominent figure at the time–made a statement that underlined Courage to Connect NJ’s entire premise: “It is only selfishness that can keep us apart.”