10 Bergen Towns Could Be Eliminated Under State Plan

Ten Bergen County towns could be eliminated and merged with neighboring municipalities under a new plan put together by state officials.

Patch obtained a copy of the letter detailing the potentially dramatic policy changes proposed by the "Economic and Fiscal Policy Working Group."

Here are some of the highlights:

• Require municipalities with less than 5,000 people to merge with adjacent municipalities.
• Merge all K-6 and K-8 school districts into K-12 regional districts, with option for county districts
• Install tolls on interstate highway "near the state line" to help stabilize the pension system.
• Install high-occupancy toll lanes (or HOT lane) on the New Jersey Turnpike, I-80, I-295, I-287, among others.
• Explicitly authorize county sheriffs or county police departments to assume local police responsibilities to encourage county-based policing
• Mandate countywide tax assessments that follow a consistent structure

The Bergen municipalities included in the plan, and their populations, were:

1. Teterboro, 86
2. Rockleigh, 588
3. Alpine, 1,522
4. South Hackensack, 2,724
5. Moonachie, 2,756
6. Saddle River, 3,241
7. Haworth, 3,446
8. Ho-Ho-Kus, 4,139
9. Harrington Park, 4,790
10. Northvale, 4,801

State Senate President Steve Sweeney said he wanted a panel "to evaluate the impact of the federal tax law on New Jersey's economy, jobs, housing values and revenue collections and to assess the broad array of issues that impact taxes and spending at all levels of government in New Jersey." (See Related: Eliminating 191 Towns? More Tolls? Look At What NJ Could Do)

Senate Budget Chairman Paul Sarlo, a Democrat from Bergen County, served on the panel.

"Everything is going to be on the table," said Sarlo. "We're going to look at the property tax impact. We're going to look at what the feds are doing to us. We're going to look at education funding. And we're going to engage experts — independent experts."

Here are some other recommendations, most of them dealing with state employees:

• Increase Public Employee Retirement System retirement age to be consistent with Social Security
• Cap pensionable salary for most government employees
• Convert four state holidays to floating personal time off
• Cap sick leave payouts.
• Permit a gross income tax deduction for charitable donations to New Jersey-based charitable organizations
• Shift focus of tax-incentive programs toward small business
• Eliminate tax loopholes and reduce tax rates

Email daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Image via Shutterstock