TRENTON – Senator Ellen Karcher, a member of the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services, issued the following statement regarding the Committee’s unanimous approval of their final report at a meeting in the Statehouse Annex today:
“After months of deliberations, today the Consolidation Committee approved our final work product.
“As the daughter of the late Assembly speaker, Alan Karcher, I know firsthand the multiple municipal madness that had vexed my father for so long, and has contributed to the high cost of government in the Garden State.
“To have played a part in the legislative negotiations concerning municipal consolidation and regionalization has really been a great honor, especially since, for me, it was a chance to carry on my dad’s work.
“New Jersey’s taxpayers aren’t out of the woods yet, and we still have a lot of work ahead of us, writing the specific details into our legislation, and pushing bills through the legislative process. But, with today’s approval of the Consolidation Committee’s recommendations, we have a map for reform, to begin to cure our State’s multiple municipal madness and give New Jersey taxpayers the efficient delivery of government services that they deserve.”