Dispatches is up on the site. Some thoughts on the stalled tax-reform process.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Author: hankkalet
Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.
9 cents?
Township Manager Matt Watkins presented a budget that includes a mind-boggling 15.8 percent tax hike.
The proposed $48.8 million spending plan, presented by Township Manager Matt Watkins, is $4.54 million larger — or 10.4 percent — than last year’s $43.8 million budget, outstripping the increase in revenue anticipated even with the rather drastic increase in the amount of surplus being included as revenue.
Much of the spending increase is take up by three areas — pensions (up $1.518 million), salaries (up $1.26 million) and the amount set aside to cover unpaid taxes ($1.21 million) — which might seem to let the township off the hook. After all, those increases are either prudent (the tax collection fund) or mandated by the state.
But it shouldn’t. The tax reform discussion swirling around the state is about moderating tax hikes and finding ways to control spending. The question the council needs to ask is what would be more offensive to South Brunswick residents — a reduction in some services or the $180 the tax hike will cost them (this doesn’t take into account any increase in school or county taxes).
My suggestion is that the council set a goal of cutting the proposed tax increase to 4 cents — which will require it to find about $1.4 million in cuts or new revenue. But it should do that without touching anymore of the surplus than has already been included.
It should then identify the cuts and hold a series of public forums explaining the proposals and their impacts on programs and tax bills and then put the question to residents — what would you do?
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Runner’s diary, Thursday
A surprising day (running on the treadmill) — I felt kind of flat going in, but pushed myself pretty hard, chugging through a slow first mile (about 9:25), hit 18 minutes at the second mile and 26:45 for three. I ended up doing four today in 35:40. That gives me 16 miles for the week, beating my goal of 15.
I tried something a bit different, some interval training — increasing my speed and then slowing several times — to help build my kick.
iPod today: Elvis Costello’s The Delivery Man
Housing plan nixed
The state Supreme Court has invalidated the most recent housing plan crafted by the state Council on Affordable Housing, saying the new “rules frustrate rather than further, a realistic opportunity for the production of affordable housing.”
Responding to an appeal brought by the Fair Share Housing Center and three other organizations, the court found the state Council on Affordable Housing in 2004 had watered down the towns’ housing obligations through bogus calculations, arbitrary rules and unconstitutional changes. Overall, the court found COAH eliminated 100,000 affordable housing units without adequate reasoning.
This should not have been a surprise to anyone. The state’s approach to the third round — letting towns come up with their own numbers — was rife with conflicts, giving suburban municipalities too much leeway to underestimate their need.
The court’s ruling opens the way for the state Legislature to come up with a more sensible approach, including the elimination of so-called regional contribution agreements that allow towns to pawn off their own obligations on needy urban centers.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Runner’s diary, Wednesday
Sometimes I get too busy to post. But I do get to it eventually.
Today — a surprising five miles in just over 45 minutes. I had done the first four mile at a better than nine-minute pace, but slowed for the final mile. I had started with the notion of doing three or four, so that last one was gravy.
Today’s iPod selection: The Beatles, Revolver and Rubber Soul.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Hank Kalet 