New Jersey would close its centralized car inspection lanes and motorists would pay for their own emissions tests under a sweeping set of recommendations set to be released by the Christie administration today. State parks, psychiatric hospitals and even Turnpike toll booths could also be run by private operators, according to the 57-page report on privatization obtained by The Star-Ledger. Preschool classrooms would no longer be built at public expense, state employees would pay for parking and private vendors would dish out food, deliver health care and run education programs behind prison walls.
All told, the report says, New Jersey could save at least $210 million a year by delivering an array of services through private hands.
“The question has to be, ‘Why do you continue to operate in a manner that’s more costly and less effective?’ rather than, ‘Why change?’” said Richard Zimmer, the former Republican congressman who chaired the task force that wrote the report.
It is unclear how many of the recommendations will be adopted by Gov. Chris Christie, who commissioned the report in March. Christie’s spokesman declined comment Thursday.
But the car inspection proposal is sure to stir up controversy in a state with a tortured history of privatizing emissions testing.
The report says that beginning next July, “New Jersey should withdraw entirely from direct participation in the vehicle inspection process.” Before then, the state would develop a plan to certify service stations and other shops “to make the transition seamless for motorists and assure that private inspection fees will be transparent and reasonable.”
The state would then sell the land where its facilities now operate.
(Read More: NJ Star Ledger)
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4 Responses
Halevai the same thing would be done in New York.
He’s 1000% right
Not so fast Your Sister.
Even a cursory search nets many articles that debate the costs of privatization.
“New Jersey should withdraw entirely from direct participation in the vehicle inspection process” – So my taxes will no longer pay for inspections. Wonderful . . . but how do you think the services will be paid for? By me and all other NJ drivers when we drive up for an inspection, that’s how – and our payments will go to an entity that needs to make a profit.
Privatization of correctional institutions has resulted in such exorbitant phone charges, paid for by outside parties as prison phone calls are made collect, that legislatures in Connecticut and other states have been called upon to act against them.
Privatization of immigration jails has resulted in undertrained personnel in understaffed institutions, widespread and serious abuse, and successful wrongful death law suits against the Federal government.
Privatization of toll roads have resulted in nice one-shot revenues to States, but the loss of long-term revenue streams – and has resulted in higherr tolls paid for by the public. See http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=274,
Nothing is free- and any entity puying a former government service is betting that they can run the service for a profit – paid for by John Q. Public.
well if hussein can natioalize health care while claiming the costs will go down (spend money & the cost goes down? riiiiiiiiiight!), why can’t gov christie say this??