NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ – Summit Mayor Jordan Glatt says the economic climate in the town where he has served as mayor for seven years is not good. And what it will take to bring Summit and its neighbors back to better footing is, in a word, change.

Glatt spoke Tuesday morning to the Summit Old Guard, a group of area men over the age of 50 who meet weekly at the New Providence Municipal Center. During his talk, Glatt outlined what changes are coming to local government, and how those changes fit with the state’s fiscal plans under the new administration.

"When I took office seven years ago, houses in Summit were being put on the market on Thursday and going for more than the asking price by Monday," Glatt said. "We were seeing million dollar homes torn down and three million dollar homes being built in their place. We had to restrict the size of some of those homes. Those were the biggest issues we faced. Today, we’re in a very different economic climate."

Now, Glatt said, residents are worried about taxes.

"Some of our residents are paying more for the taxes on their home than they do on the mortgage," he said. "Parents of school children – not senior citizens, not people without children, but parents – are demanding caps on teachers’ salaries. People are angry. This is my last term as mayor and I can tell you now that there has to be change. Local government is not sustainable as it is."

Gov. Chris Christie’s proposal to cap annual property tax increases at 2.0 percent is, Glatt said, a good start. But more change needs to come about, and is going to come about, at the local level. That change, he said, will be in the form of shared services.

"We are going to start consolidating services in more of the area towns," he said. "Summit is already sharing some services and has been a leader in this area. We have one health department for eight towns. New Providence and Summit share a tax assessor. The Summit Fire Department shares dispatch with Millburn. We’ve already been doing some of this successfully, and there is more coming."

Glatt said he is aware that shared services will not be popular with everyone.

"There will be pressure from residents not to do it," he said. "Despite the fact that the savings will be huge, and despite how everyone feels about taxes, there will be resistance to making the change to shared services. I’ve had people tell me it’s a great idea, but they only want the services from their town to be the ones we use. But it’s going to happen. It has to happen. It’s the future."

Although Glatt says Gov. Christie’s property cap proposal is a step in the right direction, it raises budgetary concerns at the local government level.

"If you take funds out of your municipal budget this year, you can’t get it back next year," Glatt said. "So that’s causing the reverse effect at the local level when it comes to shared services. Yes, it would save significant money, but no one wants to give up the expenditure for the services in question, because they are afraid if something happens and they need to get those services back, they won’t have the money for it in their budget anymore."

However, Glatt said, he does believe the governor’s proposed property tax cap is a start.

"I don’t agree with everything he’s doing, but I give him credit for pushing this along," he said. "He’s taking us in what I feel is the right direction."