Gathering in South Jersey

I'm a big fan of consolidation of many of the duplicative services offered in the many municipalities of New Jersey.

At the same time, I'm also a "local is better" advocate, and New Jersey is nothing if not locally focused with all kinds of systems and structures of government and public services.

I was amazed to discover that there is no county wide library system in Gloucester County, for example. There is a county-wide library partnership, but some municipalities (townships, towns, boroughs) in Gloucester opted out of the county wide system.

(In my mind, this hyper-local locus of control culture that is widespread in New Jersey is connected to seeing lots of "Dont Tread on Me" flags flying around this most historic original colony of the American Revolutionary era.)

Along these lines, I was glad to read about what I think is a positive consolidation move: one tax assessors office for Gloucester County.

The Courier Journal reported on this recently (article here), and had this to say:

Gloucester County will be the first in the state to try a new form of shared services -- a countywide tax assessor's office to replace individual tax assessors' offices in each town.

Gov. Jon Corzine signed the law Tuesday creating the pilot program in Gloucester County.

It's a good thing, and something that, in the long run, should save municipalities money.

While I'd rather there be lower taxes--who wouldn't--this seems like a positive development, even if the money saved is minimal.