“Best Practices” Questionnaire Spurs Towns

By J. Fred Coldren, Cape Issues Contributor
Cape May County municipalities benefit from the annual “Best Practices” survey by the N.J. Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and 2011 improvements will include new questions and “spot checking: to verify accuracy of answers.”
According to Betty Lou DeCroce, DCA deputy commissioner, in reply to questions posed by Larry Kratzer of Stone Harbor, president of the Coa-lition of Civic Associations of Cape May County (COCA), the state is learning that “many municipalities are adopting best practices that had not been previously implemented.”
The Herald earlier this year published a seven-part series on answers to 88 questions by all 16 Cape May County municipalities, focusing on best practices for “Administration,” “Personnel,” “Budget Preparation,” “Budget Presentation,” “Financial Standards,” “Procurement Practices,” “Public Safety,” “Public Works,” “Health,” “Energy and Utilities” and “Municipal School Relations.”
Cape May County municipalities earned an average compliance score of 84 percent by answering “Yes” to 1,139 of the 1,348 pertinent questions on the 2010 survey by the state DCA.
The “Best Practices” annual survey is part of the Christie Administration’s reform efforts “to improve transparency and strengthen accountability at all government levels in New Jersey,” according to the governor’s office.
Prompted by the series of articles on municipal answers provided by several communities, taxpayer and citizen groups reported they are seeking verification of some answers they were not aware of before the survey results were published in this series.
The first year surveys permitted “yes” answers to questions about best practices the municipalities intend to implement this year. That caused concern as to the reliability of some answers.
COCA President Kratzer wrote to the DCA commissioner, invited her to speak at its monthly meeting, and asked specific follow-up questions which were recently answered in writing.
Asked what had been learned in the first year of the “Best Practices” program, the state answered: “Many municipalities became aware of different ways of doing business and ways to obtain savings. For example, we found examples of municipalities that became aware of grant programs to help them with energy savings just by having to read and fill out the questionnaire.”
Regarding plans for the future, DCA replied that it would be continued “with new questions and additional efforts to encourage best practices.”
Responses last year determined whether municipalities would receive full allocation of state financial aid, or whether a small percentage would be withheld if answers on “Best Practices” were not submitted or satisfactory. Only $163 was withheld from Cape May County aid for 2011, due to overall high percentages of “yes” answers to best practices.
This year, the state will not retain “penalty withholdings”, but instead “the State will reallocate funds to towns that score exceptionally well on the survey.”
Concerning the validity of the answers provided and a need to verify them, Deputy Commissioner DeCroce replied that the Certified Finance Officers (CFO) of each municipality must “certify to the accuracy of answers. The department will be spot checking in the future to ensure answers are consistent with practices.”
The “Cape Issues” citizen advisors to The Herald closely monitored the latest municipal responses to the state’s “best practices” questions and has recommended that even though CFOs certify the answers, each municipality’s chief executive or top administrative official should also review and verify the accuracy of the replies. While CFOs are expected to know municipal finances, answers they provide and certify on the wide range of other municipal services and practices need to be verified.
Complete copies of the most recent “Best Practices” submissions by all 16 municipalities in Cape May County are clickable on The Herald website at www.capemaycountyherald.com/GovernmentBestPractices.
Along with copies of the original submissions by each municipality, a summary table prepared by ‘Cape Issues’ volunteers shows all answers by 16 municipalities side by side to all 88 questions for convenient comparisons.