Sponsored by:
Senator VIN GOPAL
District 11 (Monmouth)
Senator TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Brown and O'Scanlon
SYNOPSIS
Adds Monmouth County as pilot county for purposes of “Common Sense Shared Services Pilot Program Act.”
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning certain shared services and amending P.L.2013, c.166.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 3 of P.L.2013, c.166 (C.40A:65-4.2) is amended to read as follows:
3. a. As used in this section:
"Local employee" means a tenured municipal clerk, assessor, collector, chief financial officer, municipal treasurer, or principal public works manager who is a municipal superintendent of public works;
"Pilot county" means Camden, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Sussex, and Warren, counties; and
"Pilot municipality" means a municipality located in a pilot county that enters into a shared services agreement with another pilot municipality pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-1 et seq.) for the services of a local employee.
b. There is established a pilot program to evaluate the efficiency and functionality of the sharing of services of certain local personnel having tenure rights in office. In pilot municipalities, tenure rights shall not prohibit the sharing of services for a municipal clerk, a chief financial officer, an assessor, a tax collector, a municipal treasurer, or a municipal superintendent of public works. Under the pilot program, municipalities located in pilot counties may enter into shared services agreements, pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-1 et seq.), for the services of tenured local employees, and provide for the dismissal of any tenured local employees who are not selected to be service providers under the shared services agreement.
In a shared service agreement between pilot municipalities for the services of a municipal clerk, a chief financial officer, an assessor, a tax collector, a municipal treasurer, or a municipal superintendent of public works, the agent-party, as that term is defined in subsection d. of section 7 of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-7), shall select for employment under the agreement one of the employees of the pilot municipalities that are party to the agreement who was employed in that same capacity by one of the pilot municipalities prior to the approval of the agreement.
c. A tenured municipal clerk, chief financial officer, assessor, tax collector, municipal superintendent of public works, or municipal treasurer may be dismissed to effectuate the sharing of a service entered into pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-1 et seq.), and such dismissal shall be deemed to be in the interest of the economy or efficiency of the participants in the shared service agreement. A tenured municipal clerk, chief financial officer, assessor, tax collector, municipal superintendent of public works, or municipal treasurer who has been dismissed to effectuate a shared service agreement entered into pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-1 et seq.) shall be reappointed to his or her former position, and shall regain his or her tenured status, if the shared service agreement is cancelled, or expires, within the two-year period immediately following the dismissal of that person.
(cf: P.L.2013, c.166, s.3)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would add Monmouth County to the list of counties permitted to operate under the “Common Sense Shared Services Pilot Program Act,” P.L.2013, c.166 (C.4A:65.1 et al.).
Currently, five counties are designated as “pilot municipalities” under that law, and therefore permitted to operate under the pilot program: Camden, Morris, Ocean, Sussex, and Warren counties. This bill would add Monmouth County to that list.
The “Common Sense Shared Services Pilot Program Act” authorizes the sharing of services for a municipal clerk, a chief financial officer, an assessor, a tax collector, a municipal treasurer, or a municipal superintendent of public works without regard to the strictures of tenure rights that persons who hold those positions may have. Under the pilot program, municipalities located in pilot counties may enter into shared services agreements, pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2007, c.63 (C.40A:65-1 et seq.), for the services of tenured local employees, and provide for the dismissal of any tenured local employees who are not selected to be service providers under the shared services agreement.