Constitutional Convention, Eliminating County Government, Paying Hospital CEOs Based on Quality, Transient Rental Tax on Homes and Condos, Online Checkbook for Local Government, and Cutting Legislature in Half Top List
  More than a dozen of South Jersey’s top business and civic leaders were invited to Trenton this month to present their “best ideas” on how to radically reform state government.
  Their ideas ranged from cutting the size of the legislature in half and putting all local government checkbooks “online,” to eliminating county government entirely and instituting a transient rental tax on homes and condos at the shore.
  The South Jersey contingent was part of a 77-speaker barrage that participated in this year’s Forum on the Future of New Jersey on October 15th at the studios of NJN.
  The event was organized by Leadership New Jersey and chaired by Haddonfield marketing executive Michael Willmann.
  Sun Bank CEP Tom Geisel drew a parallel between the events and attitudes leading up to the fall of the Roman Empire and today’s conditions across New Jersey. “The average person couldn’t even afford to be a citizen of Rome at the end,” Geisel reminded the audience and “citizens fled the Roman territories to find relief.”
  “I don’t think New Jersey is going to fall,” said Geisel, “but it’s time to start thinking about each other and not ourselves.” he told the audience of 200 state business and civic leaders.
  Jack Tarditi, the chair of the new Community Foundation of South Jersey, made the case for a constitutional convention that would allow citizens to reshape state government into “a government we can afford.”
  “We owe it to our children and grandchildren,” argued Tarditi.
  Dr. Richard Harris, the director of the Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers-Camden, suggested moving police and school services, as well as planning, to the county level.
  In sharp contrast, political blogger Don Sico asked for elimination of county government, as well as term limits on legislators.
  Coriell Institure CEO Dr, Michael Christman argued the case for investing state money in genetic research and making New Jersey “synonymous” with human genome research.”
  CRDA executive director Tom Carver presented the case for a dedicated tax for transportation funding and Rowan president Don Farish made a plea for more money for higher education.
  Comparing the annual budget battle in New Jersey to “trying to cram a size 14 foot into a size 12 shoe,” Farish pointed out that New Jersey is “the only state in the nation to actually reduce funding for higher education” over the past several years.
  Virtua CEO Rich Miller asked the audience to endorse shifting money from paying for healthcare for the sick to prevention and wellness, and suggested that hospital CEOs such as himself should have their compensation tied to the quality and safety performance ratings of their institutions.
  Gloucester County Times  editor John Barna argued for more funding for tourism and agricultural infrastructure, while his counterpart from the Courier-Post, managing editor Joyce Gabriel, suggested the implementation of an “online checkbook” that would make every expenditure by county and municipal governments immediately available to taxpayers by automatically posting it online.
  Sharon Schulman of the William J. Hughes Center at Stockton cited Marne’s Law…”for every action there is an equal and opposite government action”…in arguing for market-based compensation for public employees and statewide negotiation of teacher contracts.
  South Jersey Tourism Corp. president John Seitter suggested a tax on transient rentals of homes and condos that would mirror the hotel/motel tax as a way of raising revenue to support the state’s second largest industry—tourism.
  And Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley made the case for moving from defined benefit pension plans to defined contribution plans. He also suggested cutting the size of the legislature in half and allowing local governments the option to raise money with taxes other than the property tax.
  The  Forum is presented annually by the Leadership New Jersey Graduate Organization, comprising the 1,000+ men and women who have participated in LNJ’s statewide leadership development program since its inception in 1987.