From “Facing Our Future”:
New Jersey overwhelmingly retains the same governmental complexity as it has for more than 150 years: the number of municipal subdivisions more than doubled from the late 19th century’s 270 to the early 21st century’s 566. New Jersey local government has more than 600 school districts – a number greater than the number of individual municipalities. Each of these public entities – 566 municipalities (correction: now 565 with the Princeton merger), 21 counties and more than 600 school districts, as well as the state – has the ability to raise taxes and make expenditures on behalf of their residents and students. As we stated in the 2011 Facing Our Future report, all of New Jersey’s levels of government face a growing inability to meet today’s 21st century challenges. Many of the service delivery practices, structures and processes at all government levels were designed for a 19th century state.
