I am not the only New Jersey columnist who believes the state needs to rethink how its local governments are organized. Alfred Doblin, editorial page editor for The Record, takes on the sacred cow of home rule in his column today:
What is more important: Quality education or a local school district? Is the firefighter less competent because he or she answers to a regional supervisor instead of a local chief? Does it matter if the municipality, county or an independent contractor removes snow as long as the snow is removed?
He likens the state’s fiscal crisis to the Chicago fire that destroyed that city in the late 19th Century, saying New Jersey has “burned down” and adding that “We should not build it like it was.” As he says of the sacred cow of “Home rule” — a “very big cow”: “it’s time it either produced a beverage or became an entrée.”
The fiscal reality is bleak. But there are ways of providing many of the services we expect while still spending less. We don’t have too many teachers. We don’t have too many parks. We don’t have too many roads. We have too many districts. We have too many municipalities. We have too many departments that essentially duplicate other departments.
It is in the new governor’s hands. Gov. Chris Christie, Doblin says, “has the personality to withstand the blowback from reactionaries afraid of change.” But does he have the vision? Is he willing to take on the web of problems that have created our fiscal mess, or does he plan to just slash indiscriminately, balancing the books but breaking our backs?
The jury is still out, though his budget freeze — which essentially will create problems for many school districts next year and exacerbates pension problems — raises some concerns.
Ultimately, though, as Doblin points out,
Change is happening. The issue is whether it is change for the better or for the worse. It is time to put the home-rule sacred cow on the altar of fiscal sanity.
In desperate times, every cow is accountable. Either produce milk or end up as hamburger.
That may not be popular, but it has to happen.
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Hank Kalet 