re: #116 Surabaya Stew

Christie proposed that municipalities voluntarily come together to share services, which is slightly more workable than some force-fed nonsense that was a nonstarter when proposed by Corzine.

Take Bergen county for instance. We’ve got town police forces, which cover their jurisdictions. Then we’ve got the Bergen County sheriff’s office, which duplicates efforts. Throw in the NJ State Police and you’ve got three layers of law enforcement in some areas of the county. Why? Eliminate the sheriff’s office (which has to be done at the county level) and wrap in those cut with the local jurisdictions - spread out among those areas covered). It will save some money, but not nearly as much as pension reform, and switching all new employees to 401k rather than defined benefits packages. Pension costs are driving up property taxes faster than you can imagine, and Corzine’s proposal was to ignore the problem this year so he could say that he kept down property taxes this year (except they rose anyway).