|
CLICK HERE
TO WATCH THE COMMERCIAL
The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders has taken the lead to build a consensus among its residents on shared services, and as part of these efforts recently unveiled a 30-second commercial featuring its shared service initiatives with its municipalities. The commercial is running on cable systems throughout the county.
The commercial comes after Union County’s Shared Services meeting with more than 20 representatives from 11 municipalities in early September. The committee explored more than 60 areas to share services, and agreed to pursue mutual opportunities in several areas, including Information Technologies, Emergency Communications/911 dispatching, and Animal Control.
The panel will also seek two additional grant opportunities from the state to further its initiatives and will be meeting again in the late December. Governor Jon Corzine has called on New Jersey’s governmental structures to share services as part of his overall effort to reform property taxes. A bipartisan legislative committee will also recommend shared services as a way of increasing efficiency and avoiding duplication. One proposed plan from Trenton seeks to eliminate administrative duplication by having counties collect property taxes, do property assessments, provide health services, and handle animal control.
|
 |
“These decisions should not be made without input from our voters and residents,” said Freeholder Chairman Alexander Mirabella.
The Governor has created grant incentive programs to pursue this vision of increased shared services. |
“Our goal is to save tax dollars by bringing our municipal partners to the table and reaching a consensus on ways that we can share items such as public works equipment, public safety facilities and services, and specialized programs that some governmental bodies may have access to but others don’t,” Mirabella added. |
 |
 |
The County has already won a $104,500 grant from the state Department of Community Affairs that enabled it to create the Shared Services committee, both with the intention of creating initiatives on shared and regionalized services. Union County was only one of two counties in the entire state to receive the award. |
“As we share more services, our partnership will grow even stronger,” said Freeholder Dan Sullivan, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Relations Committee, which is charged with pursuing shared services. “The goal is to deliver services as efficiently and effectively as possible.” |
 |
The County’s shared services meeting also resulted in municipalities exploring mutual opportunities among themselves. Edward Fanning, Springfield Township Administrator, said he will explore a shared services opportunity for public works equipment with the Township of Union.
“I found the shared services meeting to be very effective, and I hope we have more of them,” said Fanning.
Eleanor McGovern, Borough Administrator for Fanwood, agreed with Fanning.
“The municipalities involved developed a consensus on many of the issues they faced, and on the services they needed to share with the County,” McGovern said.
The 30-second County commercial highlights existing services the County shares with its municipalities in the areas of emergency management, parks and recreation, health care, and senior services.
To view the commercial online, go to www.ucnj.org/sharedservices. |
|
