COURIER-POST STAFF- AUGUST 2, 2010

With construction permit revenue way down, Glo. Twp. must cut department's budget.

Gloucester Township, one of South Jersey's most populous communities, isn't seeing much construction these days. In fact, most towns aren't. It's the product of being mostly built out and the poor economy.

So when Mayor Dave Mayer looks at the township's construction inspection department, he sees a problem. The department was projected to bring in $700,000 in construction permit fees for the township last year but only brought in $300,000. The department's budget for the fiscal year that ended June 30 was $642,000. Something's got to give. It's a shortfall that could continue indefinitely, as township business administrator Tom Cardis wrote in a letter to the state Civil Service Commission.

By PAMELA LAMPITT • For the Courier-Post • July 17, 2010

Each day, New Jersey's women's health care clinics deliver critical health care services to the people of our state, people who in many cases cannot afford health insurance and have nowhere else to turn. The single mother who gets screened for breast cancer. The young pregnant woman who gets prenatal care for her baby. Countless young people who do the right thing by getting tested for HIV. The elderly woman who is checked for diabetes. There are many more.

Indeed, these clinics served more than 136,000 patients last year alone. Often, they delivered crucial preventive health care in the form of various tests and screenings that helped save lives.

Because of these important preventive health services, they also saved the state money. Last year, the savings totaled more than $150 million, over twenty times the $7.5 million investment the state made in these services.

By DEBORAH HIRSCH- COURIER-POST STAFF- JULY 29, 2010

Mayor Dave Mayer is poised to privatize building inspections after laying off all six of the township's inspectors.

With construction taking a nose dive in the economic slowdown, Mayer said the township fell roughly $400,000 short of anticipated permit fees.

"The economy is what it is; the revenue is just not there to sustain it," he explained.

The construction office was projected to generate a little more than $700,000 in permit fees in the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to budget documents. That would have easily covered the $642,300 department budget. But the fees only added up to about $300,000, Mayer said.

That kind of shortfall could "continue indefinitely," Business Administrator Tom Cardis wrote in a letter to the state Civil Service Commission.

COURIER-POST STAFF- JULY 27, 2010

AUDUBON — Three state legislators have moved their main office to a shopping center here.

The 5th District Democrats -- Senator Donald Norcross and Assemblymen Angel Fuentes and Assemblyman Gilbert "Whip" Wilson -- will share space at Audubon Commons on the Black Horse Pike near Nicholson Road. They also have offices in Camden and Woodbury.

To reach the new office, call (856) 547-4800.