State lawmakers want to hire Rutgers University researchers to study efficiency and scaling in the delivery of local government services – but first have to narrow their ambitions, which are bigger than their wallet.
With an election-year eye on reducing property taxes, a proposal that has begun getting attention would have the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy study what the most efficient scale for delivering services in more than a half-dozen areas.
Those areas include municipal courts, construction code enforcement, fire code enforcement, municipal and county health services, property tax assessments, public works, emergency services such as police, fire and emergency medical response and maybe more.
They’d have a year to get it done and be provided $30,000.
“While we appreciate the intention and opportunity, I can assuredly tell you that all the work being requested could not be accomplished for $30,000,” said Marc Pfeiffer, assistant director of the Bloustein Local Government Research Center.