Roberts: N.J. should relinquish some Camden control

The state should reevaluate its role in Camden, Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. said yesterday, suggesting that local officials be given more control over city affairs.

A reassessment of the state's authority in Camden could come this year, he said.

Roberts was a sponsor of the 2002 Municipal Rehabilitation and Recovery Act, which put Camden under state control for five years and directed $175 million in state funding to the city. In 2007, that control was extended to 2012, with the option of another extension to 2017.

The arrangement, which gives Camden elected officials little power, has been compared to a dictatorship by many in the city.

Because the state no longer provides Camden with substantially more funding than other urban areas, "that relationship ought to be revisited," said Roberts, who lives in the city.

"If the state's providing significant money, it has a right to be actively involved to protect its investment," he said in an interview after announcing yesterday that he would not seek a new term. "If it's not providing those significant dollars, then it should have the same relationship with Camden that it has with other urban areas in the state."

He cited Newark, Paterson, and Trenton as examples of other cities that receive large amounts of state support. Those cities are subject to audits but remain under local control.

The relationship between Camden and the state has been prickly in recent years, with local leaders chafing at their inability to govern. Under the recovery law, Camden cannot raise taxes, for example, while the state-appointed overseer can introduce ordinances, make appointments, and veto City Council decisions.

The city, often described as one of the most dangerous in the country, also has struggled to bring order to its finances. This year, for the third year in a row, an auditor found the city's records were in such a mess that it could not offer an opinion on the city's financial health.

Last month, Theodore Z. Davis, the former judge appointed by Gov. Corzine to oversee Camden, announced his resignation abruptly and with little explanation. Weeks earlier, Davis shocked city leaders by suggesting that the state should maintain control over Camden until about 2030, saying local officials didn't have the "guts" to make unpopular decisions.

Davis was appointed in 2007 as the city's second state-appointed chief operating officer. On Monday, Corzine appointed Albertha Hyche, a state Treasury Department administrator familiar with Camden's finances, to be the interim chief operating officer.

In reflecting on the impact of the Camden recovery act, Roberts said $175 million was "not an enormous amount in the context of the problems facing Camden."

"The $175 million represented a significant understatement of the kind of capital outlay that was needed and is needed to transform a place like Camden," Roberts said.

The recovery act has done much good in terms of infrastructure, parks, and health care facilities, he said. But he added that a great deal more needs to be done.

"One of the things I think we may well do in the post-election session is take a look at refining that legislation, with the recognition that there will be a new mayor in Camden," Roberts said.

Mayor Gwendolyn Faison has announced that she will not seek re-election. State Sen. Dana Redd, the Democratic candidate for the position, is expected to win the election.

She did not return a call for comment.

Corzine's spokesman, Robert Corrales, said that the governor's office "will continue to assess the progress that has been achieved in Camden since [the recovery act] was instituted."

Roberts said he believed the state's presence in Camden needed to continue for some time, but not for 20 or more years, as Davis suggested.

"That should not be necessary," Roberts said. "The goal needs to be to give the mayor and Council in Camden the talent that they need to supplement the resources that they have."