Poll finds New Jerseyans support mergers of schools and of town governments

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

BY JOHN REITMEYER

State House Bureau

STATE HOUSE BUREAU

New Jersey voters overwhelmingly support merging their school districts and local governments with neighboring ones to lower the state's record-high property taxes, a new poll has found.

The survey, released by Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University on Tuesday, found that voters don't support increasing the property tax rebate checks that state politicians have been touting for years as adequate relief.

And the state aid that Trenton sends to school districts and local governments each year shouldn't be increased either, the poll found.

Instead, voters want to see more local governments and school districts merge to lower average property tax bills that have risen to $7,045 statewide — and much higher in North Jersey. They also want to see more spending cuts by state government, including a wage freeze for state employees.

Governor-elect Chris Christie has repeatedly called for lowering state spending — and not raising taxes — to fix the state's budget problems, including an estimated $8 billion structural deficit. The governor-elect also points to shared services and mergers at the local level as a way to address state property tax bills that are the highest in the nation.

"Garden State voters agree with their new governor — overwhelmingly — that the state's in a fiscal mess," said Maurice Carroll, director of Quinnipiac's polling institute. "And they agree he should use the ax, not the tax, to solve the problem."

Shared services and mergers were the subject of several workshops last week at the New Jersey League of Municipalities conference in Atlantic City. And Governor Corzine, in his final speech to the organization, told the local officials "until we address our state's archaic legacy of fragmented governance, the cost of government and property taxes will remain too high."

Voters agree with their outgoing governor. When asked if they support merging school districts and local governments to lower property taxes, 73 percent of those surveyed said they do, with only 22 percent opposed to that approach.

The support for mergers is also measuring higher right now than it did in 2006, the last time Quinnipiac asked voters about the issue. A December 2006 poll found 61 percent supported government mergers and 31 percent opposed them as a way to reduce property taxes.

Voters are also less impressed with a property tax rebate program that politicians in Trenton have traditionally pitched as ample property tax relief.

The poll found only 29 percent of those surveyed want to see their property tax rebates increased, with most preferring they stay the same or be reduced. That contrasts with a policy Corzine and other Democrats have pursued in recent years, which involved increasing rebate checks significantly and then seeking reelection by highlighting the bigger checks.

And only 21 percent would like to see state aid increased for their local government or school district. Two major factors in the size of local property tax bills are school district and municipal government spending.

Instead, the Quinnipiac poll found voters want state government to cut programs and services. Spending on economic development and social services were identified as the first choices for cuts, while health care and education funding were voters' last choices.

Voters also support layoffs, furloughs and a wage freeze for state employees. They said they prefer cuts over tax hikes by 68 percent to 23 percent, and 75 percent support freezing state-employee wages.

"If Governor-elect Christopher Christie wants to consider a wage freeze, New Jersey voters, even Democrats and union households, say send out for ice," Carroll said. "And if he's thinking about swinging the ax, the voters will help sharpen it."

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,615 registered voters from Nov. 17 to Sunday.

The poll has a 2.4 percentage-point margin of error.

E-mail: reitmeyer@northjersey.com