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| Pohatcong Mayor James Kern III with Courage to Connect NJ Exec. Dir. Gina Genovese (Center) |
Caught in this vice of declining incomes and rising taxes, taxpayers are starting to cast around for practical ways of easing the financial pressure. Municipal consolidation is once again becoming a hot topic around the state - especially since this past November election when the voters of Princeton Township and Princeton Borough voted overwhelmingly to merge their two townships. The combined town will now be known simply as Princeton and there is no doubt that this move will be closely studied by other officials and the public at large as they move forward and work out the logistics of their merger.
One of the organizations promoting municipal mergers is the independent, non-partisan organization, Courage to Connect NJ . On Nov. 2nd, at the invitation of Pohatcong Mayor James Kern III, Courage to Connect NJ, came to Pohatcong School for a presentation on this topic. For those who were able to attend, it may have been a real eye-opener since while the concept of municipal mergers is easy to grasp, the process itself can choreographed in many different and intriguing ways. To better understand some of the details, I urge a visit to their well-designed and informative website: www.couragetoconnectnj.org
In future posts, I intend to cover some of these details and maybe some breaking developments on a topic that seemingly will continue to get wide play with the public. In the meantime, happy reading and maybe a few parting questions: Have you ever given this any thought and if so, what are your initial feelings about it?
Which towns should merge? And for fun, what would we name any of these new amalgamations?
Not too interested in consolidation as projected savings seldom materialize. Would listen with both ears if projected savings were immediately reflected in the lowering of tax rates-even before the savings are realized. If Pohat Politicos stated that a merger would result in a million dollars worth of savings then that must be immediately reflected in a lower tax rate and then the Council should be tasked with cutting the budget to that extent. Not interested in the Pohat follies where projected savings are never realized and tax rates never recede and local hegemony disappears to neighboring townships.
ReplyDeleteCan you provide a source or study for your statement that "projected savings seldom materialize"? Tangible efforts at consolidation in NJ have been few and far between-aside from the recent Princeton merger. One of the first steps with any proposed consolidation would be a feasibility study. Much would probably be determined at that point. I think overall, it would be probably better to have multiple towns merge to get real economies of scale going. Most towns here in Warren County are pretty small by way of comparison to other towns in North and Central NJ-to say nothing of a legacy of declining demographics for many towns since 1970 or so. You could probably take a whole fist-full of them and then maybe come up with the numbers comparable to a closer in, bedroom community at points east of here. Thanks for commenting.
ReplyDeletei think the red light cameras have to go away. i have gotten 4 tickets in a 3 week period and at $85 a ticket i can not afford that. i dont have a job and my money from unemployment is not enough to support my family and i dont have any extra to just give away. not every ticket i got was my fault and because there is no cop to talk to an explain what happened and then he decide if i get the ticket this is just cut and dry. just check the video they say but the video dose not show what is going on in the car or that the yellow light is to short. there should be some type of countdown clock to tell you when the light will change because i did not set out to run red lights or turn on red just for the hell of it. please boycott pohatcong township business and maybe they will get the message. the town has made $300,000 in just 2 months off these red light cameras and that is how they are going to pay for a complete new municipal building. dont take my work just go drive by it. it is off 519 on municipal drive cant miss the construction work going on there.
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