Corzine now says he's open to phasing in cuts

LAMBERTVILLE - Gov. Corzine said yesterday that he will find ways to phase-in proposed cuts in state aid to towns and cities but that he remains committed to enticing municipalities to share services.

Corzine has proposed cutting state aid for small towns as a way to encourage them to share services and, hopefully, to cut local property taxes as a result.

Overall, state financial aid for municipalities would be cut by 10.5 percent in Corzine's $33 billion budget plan, but the biggest cuts would be for towns with fewer than 10,000 residents.

New Jersey, with 566 towns and cities, has the most municipalities per square mile in the country. Property taxes are twice the national average at $6,800 per homeowner.

Yesterday, the Democratic governor praised some small Hunterdon County communities that are investigating the possibility of sharing municipal services.

"They're taking good policy decisions, but they're also taking good economic positions," Corzine said during a visit to Lambertville.

Lambertville, East Amwell and West Amwell are looking into sharing a police department. And Lambertville and West Amwell are looking into sharing welfare services, tax collection and assessing, public works and animal control.

Corzine's plan has been heavily criticized by mayors and legislators. Still, Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio said he and his neighboring mayors are weighing new ways to save money.

"We don't look at ourselves as part of the problem, but we do want to be part of the solution," he said. "We're willing to look at a better way to do it."

Corzine said he's asked Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria to find a way to phase in the aid cuts, but Corzine and Doria said they didn't yet know how that might work. Doria said he wasn't sure when a plan would be devised, but noted it would come before July 1, the deadline for adopting a state budget.