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Thursday, November 09, 2006
Levinson Taps McGeary and Foley to Administer County Shared Services Grant
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Former Egg Harbor City Mayor James McGeary and former Atlantic City Emergency Management Director Tom Foley have been selected by Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson to administer a shared services grant obtained by the county. The $123,400 grant is totally funded by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and is for a two year period. The $40,000 salary will be split between McGeary and Foley. The COUNT grant provides financial assistance to enable county governments to initiate or increase shared services programs.
Levinson stated that he selected these two individuals for the positions because of their strong familiarity with state and local governments and their significant experience with municipal administration in Atlantic County. These individuals will work closely with municipalities, community organizations, school districts and other levels of government with the goal of developing shared services programs to reduce the burden of local property taxes on county taxpayers.
Levinson stated that he was looking for individuals who had demonstrated experience as elected municipal officials and who had successfully worked on projects that involved interlocal cooperation. "The experience and background of these two individuals make them perfectly suited for the work involved in successfully fulfilling the terms of our shared services grant," Levinson said. "I wanted people who could hit the ground running and already knew the key players. James McGeary, besides being an experienced attorney and Mayor of Egg Harbor City, was President of the Atlantic County Mayor's Association and the Atlantic County League of Municipalities. He has established relationships with elected officials throughout Atlantic County and has first hand experience as an elected official and a demonstrated familiarity of the needs of smaller communities, especially in western Atlantic County," Levinson said.
"Tom Foley," Levinson noted, "is a retired firefighter and Battalion Chief who has served as a Pleasantville Councilman, County Freeholder and State Assemblyman. He is familiar with all three levels of government in New Jersey. He knows from first hand experience the dual challenges of providing essential services while trying to hold down property taxes. As an Emergency Management Director, Tom Foley demonstrated that he can successfully coordinate projects that cross municipal boundaries and develop interlocal agreements."
Levinson stated that sharing of services has been one of his key priorities both as a Freeholder and as County Executive. He cited several areas where the county has established successful shared services programs with local municipalities. Examples include implementation of a countywide emergency communications system, a regional animal shelter, construction of a regional emergency services training center, police training pistol range, procurement of a state of the art mobile emergency command post, development of cooperative purchasing arrangements, roadway improvement projects and interlocal agreements for more efficient snow removal and street sweeping.
"Let's not fool ourselves. We have a very challenging task ahead of us," Levinson said. "We have to help convince municipal officials that giving up control in certain areas is in their community's best interest. This is not easily done in a state where 'home rule' has been sacrosanct since colonial days. New Jersey has more school districts and municipalities than Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania combined. This degree of fragmentation has a very detrimental impact on local property taxes. Sharing of services is one way to minimize this impact."
Levinson stated that he became aware of the grant opportunity when he participated in a panel discussion during the New Jersey Association of Counties convention in Atlantic City last June.
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