Should Long Beach Island Towns Be Consolidated?

LONG BEACH ISLAND, NJ - There are six separate towns that make up Long Beach Island. Five of them have year-round populations of under 1,200 residents each.

Each of them have their own governing bodies, all but one have their own police department and staffs that are not shared. And the populations of each of the small towns swell considerably during the summer months, when they are besieged by tourists.

Harvey Cedars, next to Barnegat Light, has just 436 residents, the smallest number of any of the island towns. Barnegat Light, home to the historic lighthouse, has 547 residents. Ship Bottom has 880, followed by Beach Haven with 1,022, then Surf City with 1,166. Long Beach Township is the largest, with 3,050 residents.

There is already some consolidation on the island. Long Beach Township provides police services for Barnegat Light and health department services for all the island towns.

Senate President Steve Sweeney announced the creation of the Economic and Fiscal Policy Working Group in February. Sweeney has been embroiled in a public dispute over the budget with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a fellow Democrat.

The panel has proposed a cost-cutting plan that calls for all towns smaller than 5,000 residents to merge with larger, nearby towns. That means all of the Long Beach Island towns.

In the case of Long Beach Island, the closest and largest town is Stafford Township, on the mainland. The plan does not suggest what larger towns the smaller towns throughout the state could be merged with.

The panel consists of economists, tax experts and those with extensive experience on fiscal policy from academia and the public and private sectors, according to lawmakers.

Sweeney has said he wanted a panel "to evaluate the impact of the federal tax law on New Jersey's economy, jobs, housing values and revenue collections."

"We need to know how we can mitigate the negative impact of the federal tax plan and undertake a long-overdue examination of the adequacy, fairness and competitiveness of our tax structure," Sweeney has said. "We want to make sure that government spending is efficient and effective so that we maximize the impact and minimize the costs."

Nothing has been decided yet. Merging smaller towns with larger towns is just a proposal.

What do you think about this? Good or bad idea? Tell us in the comments section below:

Photo: Courtesy of Barnegat Light Beach Patrol

Editor's note: Long Beach Township provides police protection for Barnegat Light, not Harvey Cedars. Patch regrets the error.