Legislation sponsored by Senator Steven Oroho that would make it easier for small municipalities to fill seats on government boards passed the Senate Community and Affairs Committee today.

Legislation sponsored by Senator Steven Oroho that would make it easier for small municipalities to fill seats on government boards passed the Senate Community and Affairs Committee. (SenateNJ.com)

By law, every municipality is required to have a board of health. New Jersey towns with 20,000 residents or less are permitted by law to fill the board with members of the township committee.

“It can be difficult, if not impossible, for small towns to come up with enough volunteers to sit on the board,” said Oroho (R-24). “This legislation (S-652) builds on a sensible and efficient solution that has worked in the State’s smallest towns  and expands the law to include municipalities with populations of 30,000 or less.”

Andover Borough first brought this idea to the attention of the 24th District legislators.  Assemblymen Parker Space and Hal Wirths (both R-24) are sponsors of the companion bill in the Assembly, A-117.

“We are eliminating a requirement on small municipalities and making it easier for local governments to meet their statutory responsibility to protect the health, safety and welfare of its residents,” Oroho said. “The more mandates from the State we can eliminate, the easier it will be for municipalities to control spending and hold the line on local property taxes.”