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TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator John H. Adler to allow municipalities to share courtroom facilities and support staff but maintain separate judges was approved by the Assembly yesterday by a vote of 77-0, with 1 abstention, receiving final legislative approval.

“In New Jersey, we have more levels of government than we can afford,” said Senator Adler, D-Cherry Hill. “State government must do more to allow, encourage, and if necessary, mandate shared services and cost savings on the municipal level. Property taxes are just too high, and we must seek more efficiency in how we offer government services – from Governor down to local dog-catcher.”

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator John H. Adler to allow municipalities to share courtroom facilities and support staff but maintain separate judges was unanimously approved by the Senate today.

“New Jersey has more government than we can afford,” said Senator Adler, D-Cherry Hill. “We need to do more to encourage municipalities to share costs whenever possible, but many local officials have been reluctant to give up local control over services. This bill would clear a major obstacle for towns seeking to share court services without giving up their locally-appointed judges.”

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator John H. Adler which would allow municipalities which share courtroom facilities and support staff to maintain separate judges was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Service-sharing should be encouraged at every level of government in New Jersey to help control soaring costs and protect burdened property taxpayers,” said Senator Adler, D-Cherry Hill. “However, thanks to a quirk in the current setup, municipalities have been hesitant to share court services, because it would mean giving up local control of municipal judges. Under this measure, we’re paving the way for shared services for towns which might be leery about giving up their local judges.”