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1-3-07 'Super' superintendent bill scheduled for vote in Assembly this Monday

Officials seek bargaining power on state health benefits

Wednesday, January 03, 2007 BY TOM HESTER   Star-Ledger Staff

Local officials, school boards and county colleges are urging Gov. Jon Corzine to help them gain the power to negotiate health benefits with their 215,000 active and retired employees, an action they say would save $34 million the first year.

Currently, 55 percent of municipal and county governments, 18 of the 19 county colleges and a large number of school districts that participate in the State Health Benefits Plan must accept the cost of health benefits negotiated between the state government and public employee unions.

Two bills that would allow local governments to negotiate cost-cutting changes in the health benefits they provide their employees was part of a package of legislation recommended by special committees to reduce property taxes. But the bills stalled last month when Cor zine declared that health and pension changes should be negotiated with the unions at the state level.

The New Jersey State League of Municipalities, the New Jersey School Boards Association, the New Jersey Association of Counties and the New Jersey Council of County Colleges have jointly writ ten Corzine urging him to change his position and are lobbying his aides to see their side.

"Without S40/A2 (the stalled bills), there is little local government employers can do to control increasing health benefit costs," the directors of the four organizations said in the letter made public yesterday. "The losers in this situation will be local property taxpayers."

State and local health benefits costs totaled $3.6 billion in 2006.

A total of 804,000 active and retired state and local public employees, almost 10 percent of New Jersey's population, are covered by the State Health Benefits Plan, making it the largest single purchaser of health care in the state, according to East Brunswick fi nance director L. Mason Neely, a finance adviser to the League of Municipalities.

Over the past five years the cost of health benefits under the plan has risen 150 percent, Neely said. He said towns and counties would save $34 million the first year if allowed to negotiate health benefits locally.

John Donnadio, lobbyist for the Association of Counties, warned that if Corzine and legislators do not allow county and municipal governments to negotiate health care costs, more may pull out of the SHBP. "Sussex County re cently opted out and realized significant savings and additional flex ibility," Donnadio said. Five coun ties, Mercer, Hudson, Ocean, Atlantic and Camden, remain in the plan.

"It is highly unlikely the Legislature will take on the unions without the support of the governor," said William G. Dressel, League of Municipalities director.

Anthony Coley, a spokesman for Corzine, said the governor "understands that sensible reform to health care can bring about tangible savings for the taxpayer. And that's exactly why the administration began negotiating with public employee unions in October, a full nine months before their contracts expire."

The Assembly is prepared to vote Monday on other tax relief legislation that includes moving fire district elections and budget votes from February to November, but a related proposal to move school board elections and school budget votes from April to November has been dropped, according to Democratic aides.

The lower house is also set to vote on the creation of an independent state comptroller; a state-run commission to recommend mergers and shared services for towns; and "super" county schools superintendents with more power to control local school spending. Tom Hester may be reached at thester@starledger.com or (609) 292-0557.

LEGISLATURE: To take up comptroller, property tax bills Monday Spending watchdog for N.J.?Posted by Asbury Park Press on 01/3/07 BY JONATHAN TAMARI GANNETT BUREAU

TRENTON — Assembly lawmakers plan to advance a bill Monday to create a state comptroller to oversee government spending, potentially renewing movement on property tax reform.

The Senate may also vote on the comptroller and two other key bills encouraging town mergers that day. If the plans win approval, they would be the first significant property tax reforms passed by both houses and could bolster reform efforts a day before Gov. Corzine is scheduled to deliver his State of the State address and lay out his 2007 agenda.

"We remain absolutely committed to the mission of reining in New Jersey's high property taxes," Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr., D-Camden, said in a prepared statement Tuesday.

Each measure has been scheduled for votes before, only to stumble over objections from lawmakers and interest groups.

A new comptroller proposal is still taking shape, however. It is one of two plans — each aimed at increasing scrutiny of local spending — that have been slowed by at least two lawmakers who double as local municipal or school officials.

Under calls for tighter checks on local spending, where property taxes are generated, these officials could be subject to another set of eyes, and auditors, peering into their work. There are 18 members of the Legislature who also serve as mayors, freeholders, municipal council members or school executives.

Sen. Nicholas Sacco, D-Hudson, who also serves as North Bergen's mayor and assistant school superintendent, is said to oppose a plan to move school board elections to November, when there would be more voter participation.

Assemblyman John Burzichelli, D-Gloucester, who is also mayor of Paulsboro, worried that a comptroller would have too much power to delay local projects with lengthy audits.

Burzichelli, who said he supports the idea of increasing the checks on state government and is co-sponsoring the comptroller bill, said his role as a mayor did not influence his objections.

"I don't feel any strain at all when it comes to these matters because what's right is right," Burzichelli said.

The school election plan is expected to be removed from a wide-ranging bill that also would empower county school superintendents to review and veto school district spending.

The school votes would remain in April, when turnout is historically low and often dominated by education interest groups. Education groups say moving the school elections to November risks mixing education decisions with partisan political campaigns.

Sacco could not be reached for comment.

Burzichelli said local governments are already subject to state reviews and questioned the additional cost of another layer of oversight.

His main concerns centered on a provision that would require comptroller approval for public contracts worth $10 million or more. Burzichelli worried the state office would try to overrule local spending decisions. He said some compromises would be discussed this week.

His criticism echoed the concerns raised by the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, which represents local governments.

There are 10 mayors in the Legislature, four members of municipal councils, three county freeholders and one school superintendent. Together, the officials represent 15 percent of the Legislature.

Corzine has pushed for a comptroller since stepping into office last January.