The possible merger of two towns
New Jersey's Examiner (4,17, Meggitt) reports the community reactions to a possible merger of Allentown Borough and Upper Freehold Township, as Gov. Jon Corzine "wants smaller municipalities in the state to merge and share services to cut costs."
Some citizens argue against the governor's "fiscal fallacy" that "bigger is better, less costly and more efficient," which may not be supported by "New Jersey Politics." Additional concerns are raised about the pooling of resources -- one school district in the merger would benefit while the other would have no incentive to support such a unification.
A supporter of the merger claim that New Jersey's "multi-municipal mania" and "home rule obsession" are making the state "a high-cost place to live and nearly impossible place to retire." Nevertheless, he doesn't think that the merger would be more efficient than the extensive service sharing that is currently existing between the two towns.