[ back ]
Plan outline
County Executive outlines municipality merger
Towns with fewer than 10,000 residents may lose their small community feel under Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney’s proposal to merge such municipalities. McNerney’s plan calls for the state to offer increased financial incentives for these towns to merge and cites savings of administrative costs as the major incentive for consolidation. McNerney’s objectives for the plan are outlined as follows:
State incentives
• Creation of a state-financed pilot program
• Freezing of municipal, county, and school taxes during the five-year transition period
• State supplements for ‘justifiable financial increases’ within towns and schools as merger proceeds
• Homeowners in merging towns entitled to a 100 percent increase in their Homestead Property Tax rebates for five-year period
• REDI grants — $10 million appropriated through a Regional Efficiency Development Incentive program providing aid to local units to study regional services
Benefits of plan
• Reduction in homeowners’ property taxes by reducing administrative overhead: merging administrative positions would save taxpayers’ money while retaining or increasing services
• Five-year tax freeze while receiving needed state supplements during merger transition
• Combined services between towns to create more efficient communities
• Bergen would create merging ‘blueprint’ for other municipalities in state to follow County aid
• County counsel made available to provide services necessary to change municipal boundaries
• Ensure ease of transition for emergency first-responder dispatching
— Compiled by Catherine Wilde
[ back ]
