TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senator James Beach that amends current law to permit shared services agreements with a federal military base that intends to participate with local units of government in a shared service agreement was signed into law last week.
“Recognizing the value and significance of New Jersey’s military installations to our security and their economic impact on the state and on their surrounding communities, it is imperative that we find ways to ensure their effectiveness while reducing costs to make sure they operate with maximum efficiency,” said Senator Beach (D-Burlington, Camden). “Shared services are a smart solution to achieve that because shared resources will result in shared savings and in more efficient operations.”
Under current law, the “Uniform Shared Services and Consolidation Act” defines a “local unit” as a “contracting unit”, a “district”, a “county college”, a joint meeting, or any authority or special district. Also, under current law, shared service agreements can be regional, joint, interlocal, shared, or similar basis between local units. This law (S-2178) facilitates a greater scope to promote shared services between the government and the military.
The bill implements a recommendation of the New Jersey Military Installation Growth and Development Task Force in its July 2015 report to facilitate shared services between military installations and neighboring governments.
The report notes that in 2013, a federal statute was enacted that empowers military installations to enter into intergovernmental support agreements with State or local governments to provide, receive, or share installation-support services where such agreements enhance mission effectiveness or create efficiencies or economies of scale, including cost reduction.
According to the report, New Jersey’s military installations have a major economic impact – producing 45,631 jobs directly and another 27,603 indirectly while adding $3.8 billion to the Gross Domestic Product directly and another $2.7 billion indirectly.
The law takes effect immediately.