Egg Harbor City Could be Eliminated

Egg Harbor City could be forced to merge with another town if Sweeney's "wish list budget plan" proceeds.  What town would they be forced to merge with would be a good question to ask.

191 towns face elimination.

Patch obtained a copy of the letter detailing the potentially dramatic policy changes proposed by the "Economic and Fiscal Policy Working Group" after it was initially published by nj.com. Here are some of the highlights:

Require municipalities with less than 5,000 people to merge with adjacent municipalities (see list of communities that could be eliminated below)

• 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

Those towns that would be eliminated under the plan would include Point Pleasant Beach and 190 other communities. That idea hasn't made people happy.


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 

Entire article and list of 191 disappearing towns at
https://patch.com/new-jersey/westfield/more-tolls-look-what-nj-could-do-you-may-not


https://patch.com/new-jersey/pointpleasant/get-rid-point-beach-seaside-heights-nj-has-plan-do?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=blasts&utm_content=newjersey&utm_source=facebook.com