Trenton: Chapter 11 or a New Chapter?

By Councilman Michael Vernotico

In the 1970s, Boeing Aircraft was in deep financial straits and the one time world leader in producing commercial aircraft appeared destined for a complete demise and threatened to take its home city of Seattle with it. A billboard appeared which said-Will the last person to leave Seattle shut off the lights?-Will we see a similar sign near Trenton sometime soon?

Debt provides a valuable service. We all utilize it for benefits today as we use those benefits in the future. It is why we take out mortgages to purchase homes and willingly sign on for car loans. It is also a way for governments to appropriately distribute the tax burden over the period of time we benefit from capital improvements. Borrowing to pay operating bills is a sign of trouble. New Jersey is in trouble: big trouble. New Jersey is already the third largest debtor of all 50 states.

The Governor intends to cut state spending in the budget. As a local elected official, I know that cutting spending means less funding for municipalities, who then fund these cuts through property taxes. All this accomplishes is to replace a progressive tax with a regressive tax.

It is time to put the shell game away rethink completely the way New Jersey does business. When large companies are in danger of failing, they re-organize. They cut and redeploy staff. They develop a new business model.

New Jersey has 566 municipalities and 21 counties. We actually have more school districts than we have towns. We simply cannot continue this way. New Jersey needs to re-organize and we should plan for a Constitutional Convention immediately. The New Jersey system of independent communities has long been a sense of pride. Towns are already seeking shared services and it produces only limited results. Communities with 10,000 or fewer residents are encouraged to merge in the new state budget. While these actions are worthwhile, they are nowhere near enough.

The system needs complete and radical change. In my opinion the best hope for change is to eliminate county government (as three states already have) and replace those with more efficient regional arms of state government as Senator Tom Kean proposed a few years back. Municipalities are aligned in counties based on an archaic demographic and geographic distribution. Millburn and Summit are sister cities with a great deal in common and have often worked together in the past to share equipment and services. What does Millburn have in common with Newark? What does Summit have in common with Elizabeth? The answer is absolutely nothing. Why is Millburn in Essex County and Summit in Union County? Because they are. Why do we need Essex County and Union County? We do not.

The US Attorney Chris Christie spoke in Summit a few months ago and correctly opined that the more government you have, the more waste and corruption you have. Union County spending is up again this year by $22 million. We recently passed an ordinance to prohibit left turns out of Washington School onto Morris Avenue for two hours a day. Since Morris Avenue is a County Road, it now must be approved by Union County and then the State. This makes sense how? The answer is: it does not. Clearly we need less government.

Newark and Elizabeth do not need County Government either. Large urban areas should deal directly with the State, particularly with regard to state aid. Communities of similar demographics and geographically aligned should be united under a regional arm of State government to broaden the realities of sharing and eliminating wasteful county government. Smaller communities could then merge either completely or de facto. Either way, we cannot afford the silo approach going forward. We hear much talk of change in the presidential debates, but the real question is do we have the courage to take on the political obstacles and hysteria to really affect change. Do we have the courage to take on the politicians?

We need to write a new chapter in NJs history because the chapter we are now writing is Chapter 11. We are in a real crisis of energy due to a lack of synergy. Will someone please turn on the some energy efficient lights in Trenton and turn off the lights in the County Seats of Elizabeth, Newark, et al?