Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The Collingswood commissioner candidates tackled that question at the April 30 debate. Read their answers and give us your take.
“Would you ever be in favor of merging Collingswood with another municipality if it meant lowering taxes significantly?” That question met with some incredulousness from Collingswood’s commissioner candidates when it was posed to them at the April 30 debate. But is it in Collingswood’s future? The question came during a discussion about saving money through shared services. Collingswood has several shared services agreements for work such as fire service, trash collection, energy services and code inspectors. Borough officials spearheaded a seven-town shared service pact to explore more avenues and create additional agreements. Eventually, there could be a limit to the money saved on shared services. So, would candidates be prepared to …
Monday, March 4, 2013
Collingswood and Pennsauken inked a 3-year deal to share fire and property maintenance inspections. Collingswood leaders say the borough will save $50,000 with the deal.
The following announcement was provided by the borough of Collingswood. In another step to reduce costs and share services between municipalities, Collingswood and Pennsauken officials formalized an agreement in March to share fire prevention and housing inspection services for three years. The arrangement merges inspection services of the two fire departments to create a Fire Prevention Bureau which will share Pennsauken’s current fire official, one administrative secretary from Collingswood, and four licensed, part-time inspectors to be hired by both Collingswood and Pennsauken to handle the fire and property maintenance inspections for both towns. The Bureau will be headquartered in Pennsauken, but property owners can still contact …
Thursday, January 17, 2013
In a borough where creativity lies behind every corner, the next big idea in business is discovering a practical way to ditch the trappings of the 9-to-5.
Editor's Note: This article is the first of a two-part feature on 'coworking,' a new model of collaborative working based upon the idea that people of different disciplines can benefit from sharing a common work space. For Part II, click here. Collingswood is a community that likes to share. The borough is home to a bike share, car share, and drop-off locations for food co-ops. Its government last year set up a framework for shared-service agreements with nearby municipalities for everything from capital equipment to code officials. Its school district shares a superintendent, business administrator, and custodial services with that of Oaklyn. Even its Fire and EMS services pull extra duty on mutual aid calls to nearby towns as needed. …
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Mayor James Maley said the TD Bank facade collapse earlier this summer really drove home the need for broader interlocal cooperation.
Collingswood Mayor James Maley has long believed in sharing government services as a way of cutting spending and encouraging efficiency. But it was the collapse of the old TD Bank facade a day after May Fair 2012 that really drove home the need for interlocal cooperation. Speaking at a press conference on shared services convened by seven local municipalities Tuesday, he said the cleanup might have been done faster had a shared services agreement already been in place. "We had an old bank building and about 10, 200-pound marble slabs fell off the front," Maley said. "There were more that were hanging on the building. "We couldn't get the owner to respond as quickly as I needed him to respond," he said. "I needed my construction code …
The governing body of Collingswood pushed through a number of resolutions in a short meeting Tuesday night.
At what was likely one of their shortest meetings in recent memory, the Collingswood Borough Commissioners nonetheless hammered out a fair bit of business Tuesday evening, most of it relating to its new shared-services initiative, announced earlier in the day at a press conference in Haddonfield. Touting the benefits of economies of scale while warning against the stick-and-stick diplomacy expectedly forthcoming from the New Jersey Legislature this fall, the commissioners formally resolved that Collingswood would join Audubon, Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, Haddon Township, Mt. Ephraim and Oaklyn in an “Interlocal Service Agreement.” The first collaboration under the arrangement will see Collingswood share electrical, plumbing and fire sub …
Friday, August 31, 2012
The communities will begin by sharing code officials and public works vehicles, with plans to deepen the collaboration in the future.
Municipal government in the 2-percent cap world continues to take a page from some of the basic rules of preschool: play nicely, take turns and share, share, share. Seven Camden County towns—Audubon, Collingswood, Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, Haddon Township, Mount Ephraim and Oaklyn—are working to more closely coordinate their resources under broader shared services agreements. The neighboring communities will kick things off Tuesday with the formal signing of an agreement to share a construction code official on an emergency basis. Thereafter, each municipal leader will draft interlocal shared-service resolutions to be approved at the monthly meetings of their respective governing bodies. One of the first areas the group will examine is …
Monday, August 20, 2012
By combining their buying power, 34 of the 37 municipalities in Camden County will save a collective $1.3 million in waste removal fees through 2014.
A new shared services deal throughout Camden County means taxpayers won’t be throwing extra money away with their trash. Thirty-four of 37 towns in Camden County—including Collingswood—joined into a three-year, shared-service trash disposal agreement that county officials say will save $1.3 million. Although carting off the combined 187,600 tons of trash annually isn’t the sexiest of topics, the agreement with winning bidder Camden County Energy Recovery Associates means savings for towns forced to keep within a state-mandated 2-percent budget cap. “When we work together as 34 municipalities, we can create economies of scale and get an amazing bid to lower our trash costs for the lowest amount in my memory,” Freeholder Jeffrey Nash said at…
Monday, April 30, 2012
Collingswood Public Schools will discuss this proposal at its meeting tonight: 7:30 p.m. at the Zane North School.
On the table at tonight's board of education meeting is a proposal for the Collingswood school district to share administrative services, including superintendent responsibilities, with neighboring Oaklyn. Shared services have been a major component of cost-cutting measures employed by the district in recent years. Superintendent Scott Oswald credits such initiatives with helping the board shave tax dollars off its 2012 budget. The meeting will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the all-purpose room at the Zane-North School. The agenda is hosted on the district website.
39.91181
-75.06683
Zane-North Elementary
801 Stokes Ave, Collingswood, NJ
/articles/sharing-a-superintendent-with-oaklyn
1800310
/locations/6915840
Monday, January 2, 2012
Beginning this year, Collingswood schools will use a shared custodial service with neighboring Woodlynne.
Collingswood Public School District Board of Education members recently voted to partner with neighboring Woodlynne Public School District in a shared custodial service agreement. According to board members, the sharing of janitorial services will begin Jan. 1, 2012, and continue until the end of the school year. Under the agreement, Collingswood custodial staff will service both districts. "We think we can provide Woodlynne a good service," said Collingswood Superintendent Scott A. Oswald. "And we'll gain a little revenue from it." Oswald said the agreement will yield savings that will allow for Collingswood to hire one additional mechanical employee. "(This employee will be able to) work for us at significant savings to the district," …
39.913061
-75.067049
Collingswood Public Schools/ Administration
200 Lees Ave, Collingswood, NJ
/articles/district-partners-with-woodlynne-for-shared-custodial-services
1786871
/locations/6120645
Sunday, October 23, 2011
On the eve of Collingswood's shared service agreement for trash disposal, which takes effect November 1, 2011 and will save the borough $90,000 per year, residents weight in on the impact of the measure and the potential for others like it.
Collingswood and eight other Camden County towns entered into a shared services agreement for municipal waste, effective Nov. 1. By signing a collective bidding agreement, the borough was able to lower its trash disposal costs from $65 to $52.50 per ton. That $90,000 annual savings for Collingswood is about 10 percent of the overall $949,667 that will be saved among the participating towns, including Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Haddon Township, Winslow, Merchantville, Somerdale, and Gibbsboro. Still, according to a recent study, lack of consolidation in New Jersey leads to higher taxes. Borough Beeswax took to the streets to poll the Collingswood community about its thoughts on the proposition of shared services as a means to municipal tax …
Jasomm
1:26 pm on Friday, May 3, 2013
I should correct what I said here: Woodbridge didn't "merge" 10 municipalities, they just avoided spiting into 10 municipalities like many other townships did. A similar comparison that might work better for our area is Cherry Hill, which has distinctive/recognizable neighborhoods like Erlton, Ellisburg, Ashland, etc. but did not split into Buroughs Also: "Village" would not be an accurate term … more ›