| Rible and Angelini Blast Municipal Aid Formula |
| Say Unfair System Increases Taxes, Reduces Services in Monmouth County Towns |
Assembly members Dave Rible and Mary Pat Angelini today blasted the state municipal aid formula that they say punishes Wall Township and other towns throughout southern Monmouth County.
At a press conference today in Wall Township, the two lawmakers were joined by Wall Township Deputy Mayor George Newberry in criticizing the system which sends the majority of municipal aid to the state's urban areas while suburban municipalities like Wall are forced to either raise taxes or cut services.
Wall Township has said that they are considering laying off police officers in order to fill budget gaps created, in part, by dwindling municipal aid. Wall Township has lost approximately $400,000 in formula municipal aid during the past two fiscal years. Rible and Angelini said the 25 Monmouth County towns that make up the 11th District will receive $4.6 million less in aid in FY 2010 than in FY 2008.
"This inequitable municipal aid formula is forcing towns throughout Monmouth County and New Jersey to either cut necessary services or raise taxes on their already overburdened residents," said Rible. "Something is seriously wrong when well-managed towns like Wall are being forced to lay off police officers in order to make up for a lack of municipal aid."
Angelini agreed that Trenton's policies of slashing school and municipal for suburban towns is in dire need of reform.
"Trenton's continual shortchanging of suburban districts just keeps making our state more and more unaffordable for the middle class," she said. "We need a drastic overhaul of this system which sends billions of dollars into urban districts and forced suburban towns to make do with the scraps."
The legislators cited statistics prepared by the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services which showed that in Fiscal Year 2009 Camden received $110 million in state aid while the 25 towns in the 11th District received less than $36 million.
"We should first look to reduce the millions of dollars that the state is sending to other communities that have been receiving aid increases for years with little or no oversight," said Angelini.
"While we must reduce state spending, punishing smaller municipalities is not the answer to the state's fiscal crisis," added Rible.
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