TRENTON -- Gov. Jon Corzine had nothing but encouraging words to offer the governing bodies of Princeton Township and Borough as they passed a resolution endorsing a study of municipal consolidation on Monday night.

   ”I am very supportive of this concept as a citizen who lives there about half my time,” Gov. Corzine said during a conference call with reporters Monday morning. The governor’s official residence, Drumthwacket, is in Princeton Township.

   ”I have been an absolute proponent of consolidation and shared services,” Gov. Corzine said.

   Princeton Township Committee and Princeton Borough Council jointly met on Monday night and unanimously adopted a resolution whereby they would set up a commission to study the pros and cons of both full consolidation and sharing further services, such as police and public works. The Princetons will apply to the state for grant funding of an independent contractor to study consolidation and shared services.

   Consolidation of services and municipalities are a critical long-term way of lowering New Jersey’s high property taxes, Gov. Corzine said.

   ”We do need to work on property taxes,” Gov. Corzine said. “If we get more Princeton Boroughs and Princeton Townships joining together and economies of scale we’ll be lowering those costs,” he added.

   ”There are 26 fewer school districts than when I became governor,” said Gov. Corzine, who appeared eager to add a consolidated municipality to the list. Noting that Princeton Borough and Township have unsuccessfully attempted to consolidate three times in the past, Gov. Corzine said: “I think this time the outcome is likely to be favorable because people get the idea that economies of scale work in government.”

   Gov. Corzine said consolidation and shared services was a long-term component to his plan for reducing property taxes in the state. This was combined with other policy initiatives to slow property tax increases — including a 4 percent cap on annual municipal spending increases, and increased state education aid to municipalities with the goal of slowing the school tax levy component of property taxes, he said.

   Property owners will continue to receive immediate property tax relief through the Homestead Rebate program, Gov. Corzine said. Senior citizens in towns like Princeton — who may be on fixed incomes and find it hard to stay in their homes because of already high and ever-increasing property taxes — are guaranteed a property tax rebate, he said, and all seniors on an annual income of $80,000 or less are eligible for a state property tax freeze program.

   Under the program seniors are reimbursed by the state for property tax increases in their home municipalities, he said.

   ”We are providing the relief, which I look at as a bridge, until we get to the things I am talking about in Princeton,” Gov. Corzine said.

   Gov. Corzine, a Democrat, who is being challenged in the Nov. 3 gubernatorial election by Republican Chris Christie and independent Chris Daggett, also addressed his opponents’ attempts to tie him to the bad decisions and excesses on Wall Street which led to last year’s financial crisis.

   ”I think the public knows I haven’t been on Wall Street in a decade,” the governor said, adding: “I understand politics and right now investment bankers are not popular.”

   Gov. Corzine said he was a proponent of stronger financial controls than many of his colleagues even when he was CEO of Wall Street investment banking firm Goldman Sachs. Since entering politics, first as a U.S. senator and now as governor, he said, he has pushed for greater regulation and centralized oversight of the financial industry.

   ”I’ve been active in discussions in the White House and Congress in regard to promoting the reform package,” currently taking shape for oversight of the financial industry, he said.

   Without leadership at the top no regulatory agency could be effective, Gov. Corzine said. “It depends on the people you put in charge of your regulatory agency.”

lotis@centraljersey.com