The Ruins of Trenton

City Council has once again been receiving false information from administration officials regarding city business.

Last week, South Ward Councilman Jim Coston proposed an ordinance setting the number of positions of various ranks in the Trenton Fire Department, as a safeguard against further tampering with the already stretched-thin organization by administration officials seeking to cut positions as a cost-saving measure.

During deliberations prior to the ordinance's eventual tabling, City Attorney Denise Lyles told City Council members that while they had an ability to set the number of various ranks within the city's police department, they did not have similar powers when it came to the fire department.

Such a position is plainly false, and it calls into question the validity and soundness of nearly any vote taken by City Council following the delivery of advice from Trenton's Law Department.

Dozens of New Jersey's cities have organizational ordinances setting the number of various ranks within those cities' fire departments. Any fool with a computer and a Web browser can find those ordinances in city codes online.

That same fool, if they were to dig hard enough, would find state law that clearly explains that the governing body of any municipality does indeed have the power to regulate the fire department, through the adoption of ordinances that mandate numbers of certain ranks and positions.

This fire department misinformation bit is the latest in a long line of incidents where high-paid members of the city administration provide questionable information to council members, in what appears to be an attempt to influence the city's representatives into making certain decisions about certain pieces of legislation.

The only problem is that council members don't seem to care about this, and nearly never call out these law department officials to hold them accountable.

When that happens, all of Trenton loses.

It is always interesting to see how the Palmer administration tries to spin faulty decision-making, when it comes to eliminating city amenities because of fiscal mismanagement.

The City of Trenton's chosen public relations strategy in closing down the deer paddock in Cadwalader Park relies on the notion that park designer Frederick Law Olmsted never wanted to have the deer there in the first place. That much is clear from a public relations questionnaire put out on the city's Web site, which also details that maintaining the paddock and the animals costs the city around $50,000 a year, or approximately 66 percent of the annual cost of one of Mayor Douglas H. Palmer's two police chauffeurs.

Expanding on Olmsted's apparent dislike of these four-legged park residents, the city goes on to state that many well-liked amenities have been removed from the park, because of the designer's desire for a park that was "more pastoral, and less programmed."

But the bottom line with the elimination of this amenity, and other budget-related decisions in Trenton, is that the city administration is simply not looking in the right places to make cuts, and is instead looking at eliminating important or well-liked services or amenities, like the city's branch libraries, and to a much lesser degree, the city's deer paddock.

Some people, including me, could care less about the deer paddock, and many have advocated for its removal, but it is also quite clear that there are many thousands of residents who enjoy having it and appreciate its existence here in this city.

For only $50,000, the city could easily keep the deer paddock in existence, just like the branch libraries, which face closure because of a $300,000 shortfall that represents an amazing service for many of the city's residents, for less than 2 percent of the city's entire annual budget.

It is obvious that there are plenty of sacred cows in the Palmer administration that should be feeling the budgetary axe before the libraries, and less so, the deer paddock.

But for this city government, a bloated administration flush with unnecessary perks and unneeded employment positions is more important than services and amenities that residents use and love.u

Trenton's West Ward Councilwoman Annette Lartigue likes carrying water for Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, even when it means demonstrating to the world just how inadequate she and her colleagues are when it comes to doing their jobs.

That was especially evident today in reviewing a Times of Trenton account of Thursday night's City Council proceedings, in which Councilwoman Lartigue continued repeating the Palmer line on the city's residency law regarding Fire Director Hank Gliottone.

This constant line of attack is based on the idea that citizens who have held the line on the non-residency of recent police director appointees failed to do so when it came to this fire director and a recent interim police director, and are therefore somewhat hypocritical, according to Palmerites like the West Ward councilwoman.

Fools like these think they are gaining some sort of cheap political capital doing this, but the problem with this line of reasoning - which proves how inadequately prepared Councilwoman Lartigue is for her job - is that state law prohibits residency requirements for these directors, because these men are sworn police or fire personnel.

Every resident, including me, would love it if these men resided within the city and contributed to the tax base and community, but it would simply be unlawful to force them to do so through any kind of lawsuit.

Of course, City Council members could have used their powers to force the administration into appointing civilian residents for this fire position, but that wouldn't be appropriate for this Trenton City Council.

They declined to do so, which is a failure on their part, until the Palmer administration and Councilwoman Lartigue and her obedient council buddies began to question the arrangement, as an attack on residency-supporting citizens.

But instead of producing political capital, all this really proves is that city officials and council members are woefully inadequate for their employment, and that people who call these officials out on one area of failure better call them out on all areas of failure.

If they don't, they risk being painted as hypocrites for not touching on every one of the thousands of instances where people like Councilwoman Lartigue have failed the city.

After a wonderful honeymoon away from the era of faulty governmental practices, it appears that Trenton City Council members are allowing the Palmer administration’s traditional, disrespectful relationship with their body to reemerge.

Councilman Jim Coston today reported that once again he is having trouble getting information from the Palmer administration regarding important city matters necessary for City Council to do its job, as city representatives and legislators.

But unfortunately for the city, it appears that when it comes to what administration officials or Mayor Douglas H. Palmer say or do, a majority of City Council members have reverted to a submissive and meek demeanor. This sea change seems to have occurred sometime in the days preceding the appointment of alleged residency breaker Irving Bradley to the police director’s position.

Prior to that date, councilmen Milford Bethea, Jim Coston, Gino Melone, and Manny Segura stood together as a united bulwark against the administration’s old abuses, as the four men were labeled “the gang of four” in local newspaper accounts.

They regularly challenged Palmer initiatives, and even ground a council meeting to a complete halt when administration officials failed to provide information necessary for proper deliberations on a specific piece of council business.

But now, Councilman Gino Melone appears to be back in tow with council president and Palmer lackey Paul Pintella, Councilwoman Cordelia Staton, and Councilwoman Annette Lartigue.

No one knows exactly what happened, but when it came to Mr. Bradley’s highly questionable appointment, the former residency supporter and “gang of four” member, Councilman Melone, flipped and voted for Mr. Bradley’s appointment without serious questioning or any of his previous skepticism of Palmer initiatives.

This was odd indeed, coming from a man who only months earlier was pushing and prodding residents to start an effort to recall Mayor Palmer and to begin organizing a return to a police chief-led police department.

But regardless of what happened to the Gino Melone that made those requests, the entire city is now worse off.

City Council members cannot get the information they want and they cannot do their jobs effectively. The members who would do so no longer have the ability to use their powers to cut funding, remove officials for cause, or stop meetings, because there simply aren't enough votes to do so.

The result is clear: this City Council, as it is currently constituted, is simply not doing its job, and the next batch of members elected in 2010 must be required to do so.

Talk of a bailout for homeowners facing foreclosure in the current sub prime mortgage crisis has sparked fears among New Jersey Realtors that some homeowners may abuse the bailout by intentionally defaulting on their mortgages.

State Senate President Dick Codey, D-Essex, met with around 200 Realtors last week, and after being informed of their concerns, issued a letter to the state Department of Banking and Insurance calling for some sort of intervention to prevent homeowners from purposefully defaulting, in order to take advantage of a mortgage restructuring or other financial assistance.

“A number of real estate representatives expressed concern that this threat is a very real possibility because many banks are telling their clients that they are unwilling to discuss restructuring unless they are already in default on their mortgage,” said Sen. Codey, in a statement. “This poses a serious concern for both homeowners and lending institutions. We need to investigate the severity of this threat and identify steps that can be taken both to prevent this practice and find a suitable compromise that will keep people in their homes and banks in business.”

In a related matter, state legislators have become concerned about a spike in the mortgage rates offered to first-time home buyers through the state Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency’s Smart Start program.

Rates for those first-time home buyers increased from 6.9 percent to 7.8 percent, sparking comment from state Realtors that the state program was becoming less lucrative for some buyers while pricing others out of purchasing a home.

As the most historic election in recent memory was underway Tuesday there were many a gleeful face in Trenton, as residents gathered at a variety of polling places to get their chance to make history and cast a vote in support of the man who will now become the nation’s first African-American president

Many Trenton voters probably didn’t think about the other way this election could be historic, in a more localized manner, in that last night’s Obama victory may end up provide an opportunity for a down-to-earth executive ready to tackle the city’s issues, by relieving the city of the duty of having to put up with Mayor Douglas H. Palmer.

Apparently Sen. Barack Obama has the potential to tap Trenton’s maligned mayor for some sort of urban affairs position, thereby moving Trenton’s larger-than-life absentee mayor onto the national scene.

No one knows how likely such a proposition is, and it certainly appears to be a funny one, considering how Mayor Palmer was one of the few Trentonians - if you can describe him as such - who was actively pushing for the nomination of Sen. Hillary Clinton instead of Sen. Obama.

That was presumably because of his closer relationship with the Clinton clan and the greater probability that with Sen. Clinton’s election Mayor Palmer could ride her coattails out his hometown and into Washington, D.C. But the primary in Trenton didn’t go Sen. Clinton’s way, despite Mayor Palmer’s efforts, and neither did the rest of the national primaries.

Despite all that, and if the rumor and gossip is true, perhaps presidential hopefuls like Sen. Obama are willing to forget many of the stupid decisions made by other party faithful during the primary and offer up federal positions to those who supported others, like Mayor Palmer.

Maybe Mayor Palmer could do better work in some federal position, which would allow him to finally feel like he was in a position appropriately important for his own ego, without abusing the interests and tax dollars of 80,000 residents.

In that case, this election will be doubly historic – Sen. Obama becomes President Obama, and Mayor Palmer would be headed on out of Trenton. That may not be a good thing for the nation, but it would certainly be a welcome thing for this city.

Mayor Douglas H. Palmer showed his true colors in a Trentonian article that came out Tuesday, regarding a city proposal to cut positions and demote some staff in the Trenton Fire Department to offset years of fiscal mismanagement by the city administration.

Many in the Trenton Fire Department brass have come out against the proposals, saying during a press conference Monday that with implementation the cuts will result in a public safety problem for both city residents and firefighters.

But the vindictive Mayor Palmer responded in usual fashion, ignoring the expertise of the firefighters and their knowledge of their own jobs.

Instead, he equated their position on the cuts with a similar position taken during a round of firehouse closings in 2002, and focused on some perceived paranoid perceived slight that happened six years ago, when firefighters protesting the earlier proposal picketed the mayor's wedding.

"These firefighters should be ashamed of themselves because they are attempting the same demagoguery and fear mongering that they used when we were forced to close several firehouses," said Mayor Palmer, to The Trentonian's L.A. Parker. "Residents know I would never do anything jeopardizes the safety of our citizens or firefighters."

Those are funny words from a man who is doing just - jeopardizing the safety of citizens and firefighters - by proposing significant staffing cuts to an already stretched-thin city fire department, in a city with old housing stock and a high frequency of house fires.

Those words are perhaps even funnier when one remembers how quick Mayor Palmer and his own supporters are to engage in their own fear mongering, like when the mayor and others invoked the specter of phantom racist cops and a "good ole' boys" network" when city residents like me went after his pet police directors for blatantly breaking the city's residency law.

Mayor Palmer, quite simply, is an opportunist and career politician willing to take any position on any issue for his personal benefit, whether it's residency, Barack Obama's candidacy, or even the public safety of his own city residents.

Articles like today's make that reality clear for all to see.

The City of Trenton's response to the lawsuit challenging Police Director Irving Bradley's residency status is rather weak, according to some legal minds who had a chance to review the response after the city filed it in court Monday.

Written by City Attorney Denise Lyles, this initial response first questions the legal validity of the complaint, sponsored by a group of citizens including me, by claiming that the complaint had no basis in fact and was instead based upon hearsay contained in inaccurate newspaper articles and little else.

That position is augmented by a rather simple certification in which Mr. Bradley states that he is a resident of the City of Trenton and that the complaint should be dismissed.

Such a position ignores the preponderance of evidence, which is now common knowledge within Trenton, that Mr. Bradley was not a resident of Trenton when he first attained employment and remains as such, and that his family continues to live outside of the city in a home in Rahway where Mr. Bradley has been seen both last year and more recently in September.

Next, the city tries to counter the argument that once again Mayor Douglas H. Palmer and his administration officials ignored residency rules when it came to the hiring of Mr. Bradley.

In that part of the response, the city counters the allegation that Mr. Bradley was not a resident when first hired by stating that the city's residency ordinance had a waiver provision at the time of Mr. Bradley's original hire.

It follows that the provision could have been used for Mr. Bradley, who did not attain an apartment in Trenton until several months after his hire, according to the flawed logic used by the city.

The filing ignores how city officials like Chief of Staff Renee Haynes and others constantly defended Mr. Bradley's illegal non-residency by saying he could do what he wants on the weekends, apparently forgetting about the dozens of employees who were fired for the exact same type of living arrangements.

The only solace Trenton residents should take out of this response by the city is that it was actually written by the city's own attorney.

Apparently the city decided against using the same highly-paid army of lawyers that defended former Police Director Joseph Santiago in the last residency court battle, in which the residents emerged victorious after Mr. Santiago was ousted and Mayor Palmer went down in a humiliating defeat.

The next step in this battle is for lawyers for the defendant and the plaintiffs to show up in court Nov. 21 for an initial hearing.

South Ward Councilman published some of Trenton’s latest budget numbers on his Web site this past weekend, and the numbers certainly weren’t pretty.

A maelstrom of shrinking state aid and sagging local revenues have left the City of Trenton - under the great mismanagement of Mayor Douglas H. Palmer - with an $18.6 million decrease in total city revenue, from fiscal year 2008 to fiscal year 2009.

One of the more peculiar drop-offs illustrated on Councilman Coston’s Web site was a sudden $14.3 million drop in an item called “Local Revenues”, which comes in at just over $19 million after sitting at the $33.6 million range in last year’s budget.

Coming in second, as far as revenue declines are concerned, was a drop in “Additional State Aid”, from $21 million to $19,100,000. Another state aid line item for over $16 million remained the same, but that only means that Trenton falls further behind as rises in costs and inflation mean last year’s dollars go even less further this year.

Perhaps most disturbing was that another in a long succession of property tax increases, this time for 13 cents per $100 of assessed value, only netted the city an additional $2.8 million in property tax revenue, from $48.2 million to $51 million.

Not only did this increase amount to little more than a dent in the city’s overall budget gap, but the city’s overall lack of revenue growth means that city residents will probably be subjected to similar tax increases for years to come.

The only other options the current government seems to be pursuing are requests made to the the already financially distressed state and federal governments for more dollars and the selling off of valuable city assets, like outlying Trenton Water Works infrastructure, for one-time infusions of cash.

This government simply won’t take the most obvious step and go in and reduce the size of the city’s bloated administration, through the elimination of some of the high-ranking and high-ranking support staff of Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, and their salaries, benefits, and municipal vehicles.

Until that happens, the city will continually be forced into levying ever-growing tax burdens, driving away residents and businesses at a time when Trenton needs to be attracting them.

Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer had the city's shiny tin cup out again this week, as he spoke to members of Congress and advocated for a bailout package of billions of federal dollars for America's cities.

Mayor Palmer pulled out his usual talking points, like how Trenton suffers from having less taxable properties due to the presence of the state government and how the state takes up downtown properties for use as surface parking.

The mayor even pulled out the latest piece of hardware from the beggary arsenal of public officials: the mortgage and credit crisis. That problem, which has sparked the nation's recent economic downturn, had led to a 46 percent increase in foreclosure filing, according to the mayor.

These issues were then linked by the mayor to the city's current fiscal crisis, which comes in the form of a $26 million budget gap that has could lead to the slashing, through layoffs or the elimination of vacancies, of 10 percent of the city workforce.

Reading over the mayor's prepared comments, one nearly becomes frightened over the ability of public officials to make presentations, prepare reports, and lobby for important legislation based on positions that are partial misrepresentations of reality and deny all personal responsibility.

While the general statistics and other portions of the positions taken by the mayor are true, he of course did not go into the wasteful and haphazard manner in which his administration operates, which makes him partially responsible for the current fiscal crisis.

He didn't talk about how his administration, through its activities, constantly opens the city up to costly litigation, or how he allows taxpayer dollars to go towards the funding of lavish and unnecessary perks for favored employees.

Mayor Palmer said nothing about the abject failure his economic redevelopment pursuits have experienced, or how he has moved to sell numerous, long-term city assets to plug short-term budget gaps.

Of course, one cannot blame the mayor for trying in this manner.

A federal bailout would be much better news than a state-sponsored bailout, which would surely come with a demand for state oversight of city finances and an end to the salad, accountability-free days of this administration.

But should such a federal bailout be put into place based on the testimony of men like Mayor Palmer, then some attentive observers will lose some of the confidence that they may have in federal decision-making.

Someone needs to go tell the Feds a little bit about this slick-looking man from Trenton, before he ends up in D.C. himself.

Trenton's firemen will be on hand at Trenton Fire Headquarters on Perry Street at 1 p.m. Monday to address manpower cuts proposed by the city government, which will result in a serious safety problem that endangers all lives and property within the great City of Trenton, according to fire officials.

Earlier this month, outgoing Business Administrator Jane Feigenbaum announced a dramatic regimen of fire department cuts including the layoff of 13 fire captains, the elimination of 16 firefighter vacancies, and the occasional closing of some of the city's remaining fire companies.

Firefighters, in a statement, cited an infamous incident on Prospect Street in December of 2006 where three Trenton firefighters nearly lost their lives as evidence of the danger of additional cuts.

"Any reduction of captains or firefighters at this fire would have caused these firefighters to lose their lives," said one official, in the statement.

This year's proposal follows a round of cuts in 2002, after which the Trenton Fire Department maintained a consistent record of adhering to its budget while making do with dangerously reduced staffing levels, according to the statement.

Its final line reads, "Enough is enough. We ask council and the residents to protect their fire department."

New Jersey public officials always seem to be engaging in a wild game of musical chairs, whether it's regarding actual positions of employment or moral or political positions on how the government should be run.

Tuesday’s announcement that Business Administrator Jane Feigenbaum was leaving Trenton to take up a similar position up in Perth Amboy, with Assistant Business Administrator Dennis Gonzalez taking her position, is a perfect example of this phenomenon.

Only months ago, many in the city breathed a sigh of relief after hearing reports that stated Mr. Gonzalez – the same guy who threatened city residents who questioned his work with lawsuits – was the one preparing to leave the city to take up a new position, also in Perth Amboy.

His longtime friend but eventual enemy, Mayor Joseph Vas, was defeated in the recent mayoral election, bringing a new administration into power and perhaps opening up a way for Mr. Gonzalez’s return.

Such a move seems to make a little more sense than the Feigenbaum announcement, considering Mr. Gonzalez’s long-time connections up there, after having grown up there, with Mr. Vas, who made Mr. Gonzalez law director after Mr. Vas was elected sometime in the early 1990s.

But, as many do in New Jersey, the relationship soured, after Mr. Vas fired Mr. Gonzalez’s wife and city aide Kim McReynolds in late 1995 for failing to substantiate the reason she had to take off an extended period of time from work, after she had a cancerous lump removed from her tongue.

Then, in 1997, Mr. Gonzalez got the axe, after Perth Amboy City Council voted to change his job to a part-time position. Some council members like Joseph Misiewicz told The Star-Ledger that the move was a personal attack designed to “get rid of Dennis.” With the salary cut in half, Mr. Gonzalez left the position, about a month later.

Things got worse in October, when Mr. Vas filed a complaint with the state Supreme Court Ethics Committee, charging Mr. Gonzalez had violated attorney-client privilege by talking about opinions he had given to the city at public meetings, and later commenting on his wife’s termination to a reporter. Although the committee found no evidence of wrongdoing, relations got even worse.

“I think the fact that he didn’t inform me is cowardly and dishonest,” said Mr. Gonzalez, to The Star-Ledger. “If he had any sense of decency, he would forwarded a copy of the complaint to me.”

Then, in 1998, Mr. Gonzalez went head-to-head with Mr. Vas’ own slate of City Council candidates in the election, running on a slate of anti-Vas candidates. Although he lost badly, his public comments from the time represent another type of musical chairs, in that they contradict the manner in which he and other administration officials in Trenton frequently treat City Council members.

“It’s wrong what’s going on in Perth Amboy,” said Mr. Gonzalez in a Star-Ledger piece about the election, saying Mr. Vas controlled City Council.

Mr. Gonzalez also said he wanted to use his legal prowess and sit on a strengthened City Council to maintain a balance of power in city government, according to The Star-Ledger.

But judging by how Mr. Gonzalez and Ms. Feigenbaum acted down here in Trenton, it looks likes the new acting business administrator had a change of heart in many ways, but especially regarding the importance of having a balance of power and a strong governing body.

That’s probably good for his conscience about his hometown, because people there are probably in for a rough time, with Ms. Feigenbaum’s entrance into the Perth Amboy scene along with reports that the Vas administration's activities are being probed by the FBI.

Welcome to New Jersey....

The state Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee Legislation this week unanimously passed legislation that's aimed at reforming the state's Distressed Cities financial aid program by imposing additional oversight on potential recipients like the City of Trenton.

The Distressed Cities program, which doled out approximately $140 million in extra state aid last year, has received increased scrutiny recently due to the state's fiscal woes and a perception that the program lacks the accountability necessary with the appropriation of such large amounts of taxpayer dollars.

Sen. Phil Haines, R-Burlington, apparently sponsored legislation designed to reverse that perception, basically by requiring more from municipalities seeking extra state aid dollars through the program and empowering the state with additional oversight power.

"For far too long, this program has been used for partisan political purposes," said Sen. Haines, in a statement. "This common-sense reform measure that passed the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee will inject fairness and transparency into a state aid program that distributes over $140 million of the taxpayers' money every year."

The bill amends existing Distressed Cities law to require municipal officials receiving significant aid to create a financial plan aimed at addressing the underlying causes of their municipality's fiscal woes, to be laid out in a memorandum of understanding with the state.

Municipalities failing to live up to the expectations laid out in the memorandum face a suspension of aid. Also, the bill provides a limit of three consecutive years of extra aid, barring special circumstances, and empowers the state to convene municipal finance boards to oversee the decision-making of towns constantly experiencing fiscal problems.

Trenton certainly appears to fit the category of a distressed city. Last year the city's finances were saved by a late-minute infusion of $25 million from the state's so-called "Capital City appropriation", which came with stipulations including prohibitions on wage increases that were apparently ignored.

Fast forward to today.

The city now faces a larger $27 million gap, at a time when the state's finances are in even worse shape than they were last year.

Another multimillion dollar infusion of state dollars, perhaps under state oversight within the state's Distressed Cities program, seems to be Trenton's only hope.

Another Republican in New Jersey is screaming bloody murder about alleged taxpayer-funded transportation abuses, down in Atlantic County.

Frank Balles, the GOP candidate for Atlantic County sheriff, attacked current county Sheriff Jim McGettigan today after the sheriff personally ran up thousands of dollars in bills on a county credit card purchasing gas at private gas stations in recent years.

The sheriff bought 1,400 gallons of gas at a station miles from his home between October of 2004 and August of 2006, according to reports published in The Press of Atlantic City.

Mr. McGettigan and other sheriff’s employees received the credit cards after the sheriff made the claim that his officers needed county-issued gasoline cards to assist with transportation associated with their official duties, but Mr. McGettigan was the one who really took advantage of the cards.

County records demonstrated that his officers used the cards 24 times for a total of $642 over the two-year period, compared with Mr. McGettigan’s use – 72 times for over $2,500.

“It is contemptible that McGettigan trued to use concern for the safety of his officers as a method to obtain personal benefit,” said Mr. Balles, in a statement.

Following the purchases, Atlantic County took action by prohibiting further use of the credit cards by Mr. McGettigan, who violated county policy by purchasing the gasoline at more expensive, privately-owned gas stations instead of county-owned stations, according to The Press of Atlantic City.

County-owned stations in Atlantic City, Hammonton, Mays Landing, and Northfield provide gasoline at cheaper prices, due to the county’s tax-exemptions, according to reports.

There is help on the way for the City of Trenton and the numerous persons, businesses, and other entities that have become crime victims during the dramatic surge in metal thievery.

Criminals in many areas of the state have begun plotting out methods for absconding with anything containing certain metals, like copper and aluminum, which have experienced significant price increases in recent years.

Assistance for those beleaguered by this crime wave comes in the form of legislation proposed by a trio of Republican legislators from South Jersey who have apparently taken notice of the trend and plan to legislate the problem away - Sen. Christopher Connors, Assemblyman Brian Rumpf and Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt, all R-9.

Under their proposal scrap metal business owners would be required to engage in better record-keeping practices, since they are the usual recipient of the stolen metals.

“Unfortunately, honest operators of scrap metal yards unknowingly become entangled in these crimes by virtue of being the only venue where thieves can turn a profit from their stolen property,” said Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, R-Little Egg Harbor, in a statement.

The law requires such businesses to request identification from anyone making scrap metal sales. On that basis they would be required to maintain records for up to five years consisting of the name and address of metal sellers, which could be used by law enforcement officials to prosecute metal thieves.

Other portions of the law require businesses to disclose sale information to law enforcement officers and to promptly report suspicious sales. Scrap metal businesses found in violation of the disclosure and reporting stipulations would be subject to various penalties, according to the legislation.