NJ mayor proposes changing muni to a nonprofit

Here's a novel suggestion for dealing with state mandates:

Comparisons drawn between municipal government and corporate management have never been as close to the truth as they may soon become in Hopewell Borough.

Calling state mandates "entangling intrusions" in an open letter posted on the borough website in December, Mayor Paul Anzano proposed an apparently unprecedented solution: Dissolve the community's municipal charter and establish the borough as a nonprofit entity.

He's floating this idea as an alternative to consolidation with the township. Here's how it would work:

Under Mayor Anzano's plan, the community would be run on a corporate model, and a board of directors, rather than a borough council, would hold residents responsible for municipal fees much like those in a co-op.

The mayor believes the resulting nonprofit would still be eligible for state aid. I'm certainly not familiar with NJ law, but that seems kind of odd to me. There is also doubt about whether the new organization would retain a municipalities police powers.

Another city outsources all services

Not in the Midwest, but an interesting look at how one city responded to severe fiscal stress and other problems. It appears that Maywood, California has gone even further than Sandy Springs, Georgia:

While many communities are fearfully contemplating extensive cuts, Maywood says it is the first city in the nation in the current downturn to take an ax to everyone.

The school crossing guards were let go. Parking enforcement was contracted out, City Hall workers dismissed, street maintenance workers made redundant. The public safety duties of the Police Department were handed over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Many city employees have been kept on but are now working for contractors. Not the police, though:

Maywood’s biggest problem by far has been its police department.

A report by the state attorney general last year concluded the culture of the department “is one permeated with sexual innuendo, harassment, vulgarity, discourtesy to members of the public as well as among officers, and a lack of cultural, racial and ethnic sensitivity and respect.”

There are $19 million in claims pending against the police, which made it effectively impossible for the city to get insurance for any of its employees. If Maywood did not dismiss the municipal work force, officials said, bankruptcy would have been the only option. The total number of laid-off employees, including those in the Police Department, was about 60, city officials said. 

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is now providing police services for about half the cost of the former PD.