ROBERTS: TIE MUNICIPAL AID TO EFFICIENCY THIS YEAR, NOT NEXT
Speaker Says Municipal Performance, Not Population, Must Be Key to Deciding State Aid Levels for All Cities and Towns

(TRENTON) - Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr. (D-Camden) today called for a Fiscal Year 2009 municipal aid distribution plan that would treat all municipalities fairly and equitably through efficiency performance measures.

"I share the Governor's dual goals of enacting a State Budget that does not live beyond its means and encouraging a more rationale local government structure through consolidation and shared services," said Roberts.  "However, performance, not population, must be the benchmark against which government is judged."

Speaker Roberts noted the Legislature enacted legislation last year requiring the development of municipal performance efficiency standards that would be used to calculate state aid. Those standards have yet to be developed.

"Expeditious establishment of the statutorily required measures must be a priority for the State," Roberts said.  "We cannot let another fiscal year - another opportunity for a true effort to redefine local government - go by without a reasonable plan in place."

The Governor's proposed budget would reduce Consolidated Municipal Property Tax Relief Act (CMPTRA) aid by $62 million, but the lion's share of the cut would fall on towns with less than 10,000 residents.

Roberts proposes modifying the Governor's recommendation by linking municipal aid to benchmarks to be established by the Department of Community Affairs for Fiscal Year 2009. 

The Speaker said his proposal would "make each municipality - from the smallest town to the largest city - the State's partner in enacting a budget that recognizes fiscal reality.  At the same time it puts all towns on notice that the State can no longer subsidize inefficiency at any level of government."

Roberts is continuing to work to implement and strengthen measures enacted as a result of the State's historic Special Session on Property Tax Reform.  He also is working on an approach to help promote more mergers and consolidation efforts.

"Towns must seek out new ways to share services and reduce residents' tax burdens," said Roberts.  "Reducing the size and cost of government through shared services and regionalization is imperative to realizing substantial, long-term property tax savings."

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