Posted to The Town Crier - Legislative Backgrounder on February 18, 2021 at 1:31 PM by Legislative Staff
Since 2011, Senate President Sweeney has been advancing legislation to encourage shared services by making various civil service reforms, but would permit the state to withhold state aid from municipalities that did not implement a shared service agreement. For the past ten years the League has been working with the Senate President to address municipal concerns. While the intent of legislation has always been to encourage sharing of services, over the years the bill has undergone amendments on various issues, such as civil service reforms, some of which we viewed positively and some less so. The one constant that has remained is the voter penalty – if the voters reject a recommendation of Local Unit Alignment, Reorganization, and Consolidation Commission (LUARCC) then the municipality would lose state aid (ERT/CMPTRA) equal to the amount of savings LUARCC certifies the municipality would have if they enacted the shared services.
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