A New Business Trend?

An article appearing on page B1 of the June 24, 2008 edition of a New Jersey newspaper known as the Asbury Park Press, is titled Jackson Building Department Could Cease to Exist. The building department in question belongs to the Township of Jackson, New Jersey. The article indicates that there is an existing proposal, supported by Mayor Mark Seda, which would do away with the department and outsource its building inspection and code enforcement tasks to a private company. Department employees would either be terminated or transferred to other departments.

The action could save the municipality money. Private firms tend to perform equivalent work at less cost to the taxpayer. In an age of increasingly squeezed budgets in this highly taxed state, this type of outsourcing could become a model for keeping down the cost of government. It could also auger well for entrepreneurs, willing to carve out a new business niche, should this type of policy proliferate throughout New Jersey.