NJLM - A-51 Uniform Shared Services and Consolidation Act

A-51 Uniform Shared Services and Consolidation Act
Description:
Concerning shared services, regionalization, joint meetings, and municipal consolidation and supplementing Title 40A of the New Jersey Statutes and repealing various statutes.

Since last February, the League has been working closely with Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, the Assembly Majority staff and others to craft legislation that would facilitate and encourage shared services and the creation of joint meetings among many governmental units. Assembly Bill 51 also facilitates and expedites municipal consolidations. The League is squarely behind the purpose, intent and direction of this bill. The Assembly Speaker should be commended for taking the initiative with this legislation.

Briefly, here are the aspects of the bill that the League of Municipalities considers vital to increasing voluntary cooperation among municipalities and other entities:

Under the first section of the Bill, municipalities are provided greater flexibility to design a shared services solution that meets their specific needs.
The Bill provides a one-stop-shop at which municipal leaders can identify what they must do in order to effectively cooperate with neighbors to provide joint services in the most appropriate way for their particular municipalities.
Elimination of N.J.S.A. 11A:9-8 which requires any service that is the subject of a share services agreement to come under the jurisdiction of the Department of Personnel (Civil Service) when one of the entities is civil service. The current irrevocable position of NJDOP is that any joint service of any sort must be under the department’s jurisdiction if even just one of the participating entities is now under the department’s jurisdiction.

The bill would continue this provision when all parties are currently under the department’s jurisdiction.
The bill would continue the provision when the party managing the service is currently under the department’s jurisdiction.
However, if a non-civil service community manages the service, any transferred employees would retain tenure rights under the bill but the service would not be under NJDOP for any other aspect of its operation.

While the League would have preferred that the bill did not include terminal leave for police employees displaced by a merger of services, and the costs associated with it, the bill contains limiting definitions that will control the costs and assist its passage. It also provides an opportunity for the use of SHARE implementation funds to offset the transition cost and support the savings created by the joint venture.
Reasonable employment protection and operational procedures requiring employment reconciliation plans, which must be approved by NJDOP where the department has jurisdiction, provide procedures to assure that employment decisions are objectively reviewed.
The League supports this legislation because it aggressively tears down statutory inhibitions to the voluntary desires of local officials and local citizens to effect efficiencies in their own communities.

NJLM - A-51 Uniform Shared Services and Consolidation Act

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Briefly, here are the aspects of the bill that the League of Municipalities considers vital to increasing voluntary cooperation among municipalities and other entities:

Under the first section of the Bill, municipalities are provided greater flexibility to design a shared services solution that meets their specific needs.
The Bill provides a one-stop-shop at which municipal leaders can identify what they must do in order to effectively cooperate with neighbors to provide joint services in the most appropriate way for their particular municipalities.
Elimination of N.J.S.A. 11A:9-8 which requires any service that is the subject of a share services agreement to come under the jurisdiction of the Department of Personnel (Civil Service) when one of the entities is civil service. The current irrevocable position of NJDOP is that any joint service of any sort must be under the department’s jurisdiction if even just one of the participating entities is now under the department’s jurisdiction.

The bill would continue this provision when all parties are currently under the department’s jurisdiction.
The bill would continue the provision when the party managing the service is currently under the department’s jurisdiction.
However, if a non-civil service community manages the service, any transferred employees would retain tenure rights under the bill but the service would not be under NJDOP for any other aspect of its operation.

While the League would have preferred that the bill did not include terminal leave for police employees displaced by a merger of services, and the costs associated with it, the bill contains limiting definitions that will control the costs and assist its passage. It also provides an opportunity for the use of SHARE implementation funds to offset the transition cost and support the savings created by the joint venture.
Reasonable employment protection and operational procedures requiring employment reconciliation plans, which must be approved by NJDOP where the department has jurisdiction, provide procedures to assure that employment decisions are objectively reviewed.
The League supports this legislation because it aggressively tears down statutory inhibitions to the voluntary desires of local officials and local citizens to effect efficiencies in their own communities.