The Ledger Live looks at the failed Sussex/Wantage merger

by: Jason Springer

Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 04:15:00 PM EST

The latest merger to stop before it gets started is the one between the towns of Sussex and Wantag. When put to the voters, it failed locally by a 3-1 margin:

"If it wasn't going to happen here, I wonder if it's going to happen anywhere," said Sal Lagattuta, one of the proponents.

It seemed like a natural candidate for a merger, but the people said they wanted to keep their identity, their name and that they didn't mind paying more to do it. Brian Donohue had this video over at the Ledger Live:

We wrote last week about how the Medford Lakes council didn't even put it to their voters before squashing a proposed merger to share police services, not even merge the whole town. This will be a thorny issue for the new Governor to navigate, but one that if he's being real about changing the way we do business needs to receive some serious consideration. Brian Donohue asked this:

Will Christie have to push even harder to overcome New Jerseyans' love for home rule?

The answer is yes he will have to push even harder, but the follow up question is will he actually do the pushing necessary?

Jason Springer :: The Ledger Live looks at the failed Sussex/Wantage merger

Tags: municipal mergers, merger, consolidation, Sussex, wantage, (All Tags)

Print Friendly View

Send As Email

The Ledger Live looks at the failed Sussex/Wantage merger | 2 comments

job cut out for him (0.00 / 0)

Christie might find that towns in the redder parts of the state are more cost efficient with home rule. After all, Sussex and Wantage residents said they were willing to pay more to maintain their separate identities. Of course, Christie did run on the premise of NJ having the highest taxes in the nation, so he might try to extend state aid to those municipalities, while cutting it for towns in places like, oh, I don't know...Hudson County?

Then he'll claim he did something about it.

Meanwhile, even though taxes went up in NJ (and everywhere else, just about), I imagine that the highest taxes are in places where the GOP usually dominates. There are still places in NJ where houses that are over $1 are being bought.

The middle class and the working poor will, of course, get screwed, if Christie cuts services that the wealthiest taxpayers can afford to obtain privately or those the wealthy don't need themselves.

The people leaving NJ are mostly the ones who cannot afford to live here. The wealthy can afford to live wherever they choose.

Three little words: Wait For It

by: laur @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 03:32:57 AM UTC