Current Republican incumbents are quick to tout their use of shared services but they fail to credit the Democratic 2009 council candidates- Jim Buell, Richard Escobar, John Titus and Gary Mahabir who pushed for aggressively pursuing shared services in 2009.
Our 2021 Shared services agreements are listed below and total $450,560.00
- Providing Borough of Chester Sanitation $44,050.00
- Providing Township of Mine Hill Animal Control $5,000.00
- Providing Borough of Netcong Municipal Court $60,950.00
- Providing Town of Dover Fire Subcode $7,602.00
- Providing Township of Roxbury Fire Subcode $25,000.00
- Providing Town of Dover Health Services $82,500.00
- Providing Township of Mine Hill Health Service $43,697.00
- Providing Borough of Wharton Health Service $94,913.00
- Providing Borough of Netcong Health Services $44,392.00
- Providing Borough of Mt. Arlington Health Services $42,456.00
The expenses that are related to these shared services are not tracked. How can the Township determine the amount to charge for the shared service without tracking expenses? Does the increased revenue generated by shared services result in increased income to help balance the budget or is there a deficit? Fiscal responsibility requires an analysis of the expenditures.
How do we know that our residents are best served by sharing these services when we don’t understand if the programs are running in the black?
It’s time for accountability!