EWING –– Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells announced June 5 that the State Records Committee has awarded grants totaling $8,546,550 statewide for innovative county and municipal projects designed to enhance government records management, preservation, storage and public access.
Now in its fourth year of operation, the Public Archives and Records Infrastructure Support (PARIS) program offers grants to dramatically improve the quality, efficiency and security of local public recordkeeping in New Jersey. These advances contribute to reducing the county and local property tax burden on citizens of the Garden State.
Nearly 70 state, county and local officials attended the award ceremony at the State Records Center in Ewing. All 21 counties received grants from $22,500 to $1.5 million.
Cape May County was among the list of awardees. The county will receive a grant of $711,200 for disaster recovery and staffing needs having requested over $1.66 million.
Besides direct grants to 14 cities and towns, several PARIS-funded intergovernmental shared services projects will extend the program’s benefits to over 150 of New Jersey’s municipalities. Almost half of the total grants awarded—$4.2 million—went to shared services projects.
A grant program of the Department of State’s Division of Archives and Records Management, PARIS has transformed local government records administration in New Jersey since launching in 2005. For the first time in history, New Jersey’s counties and municipalities have been able to access state grant funding for strategic investments in the infrastructure of public records administration. As a first priority under PARIS, all county and local governments undertake comprehensive needs assessment and enterprise-wide strategic planning. PARIS places a high priority on funding projects that build or improve intergovernmental shared records services and facilities.
Secretary Wells said “PARIS continues to enable New Jersey’s counties and municipalities to adopt 21st-century technologies to drive down the cost of government records creation, maintenance and storage, while expanding public access.” Wells added,
“PARIS continues to be a leader in promoting shared services, with all 21 counties embracing some form of shared services initiative. In many counties 100 percent of their municipal governments are participating in county-sponsored shared services projects.”
Funded by document filing and recording fees collected by county clerks, PARIS is a key component of the New Jersey Public Records Preservation Program established by the state legislature in July 2003. Grants are awarded by the State Records Committee, which is comprised of the State Treasurer, Attorney General, State Auditor, Director of Local Government Services (DCA), and the Director of the Division of Archives and Records Management.
For a complete listing of 2008 PARIS grants to counties and municipalities, visit http://www.njarchives.org/links/paris/awards-fy08.html.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
