Taxpayers would be winners in a merger

This weekend at the regular get-together of area mayors, a number of our municipal leaders talked the talk of municipal consolidation, but only Sea Bright’s Gregory Harquail was ready to walk the walk.

After the meeting Harquail revealed that he had approached his counterpart in Rumson, Charles Callman, about the possibility of merging the two towns.

No matter how faint-hearted that approach may have been, residents of both towns should be pushing their local leaders to pursue the idea.

Harquail said he had been rejected, but Callman disputed that, saying he told his counterpart Rumson needed time to consider the matter.

Residents should urge the councils in the two towns to consider it seriously.

Recently Sea Bright Councilman Charles Galloway put forth the idea of merging some municipal services with Rumson, and even that would be good, but a full merger between the two towns would be better.

As any businessman can tell you, in any operation there are always savings to be had when you can spread fixed costs over a greater area of production.

That is exactly what Rumson and Sea Bright could do. The most significant savings would likely be available in the combined school district, as Sea Bright would add just 31 students to Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School. It’s quite possible that the district could absorb those students without adding a single teacher’s salary or other significant expense.

Even if RFH had to spend $300,000 to educate those students, there still would be more than $1 million available for tax relief across the district (Fair Haven would benefit, too).

On the municipal side, savings would be available in just about every department of the government.

It is likely that there could be reductions of staff in administration, public works, the police department, the clerk’s office and the court system.

While the savings in each department may be small, the total would likely be significant, and taxpayers would be the beneficiaries.

Clearly there is much to work out in any merger, but the opportunity for savings is just as clearly worth the effort.