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 Posted: Wed, Oct 27 2010, 5:05 pm EDT Post subject: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes
BY MICHAEL HALFACRE MAYOR OF FAIR HAVEN
On Monday, October 25th, I went to Trenton to attend an event organized by the New Jersey Conference of Mayors, which is the largest and oldest Mayor’s organization in the United States. The purpose of the event was to meet with Governor Christie, the Assembly Republicans and the Assembly Democrats to urge the passage of a key provision of the Governor’s "Tool Kit" reforms: capping interest arbitration awards to the 2% property tax cap passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor last Summer.
Many of you may remember that when both Republicans and Democrats passed the Governor’s budget, there was much hoopla about the 2% property tax cap, and there was an emphasis on the need for passage of the "Tool Kit" reforms that would enable local governments to manage the cap. While the Tool Kit is composed of many bills, there is almost universal agreement among mayors that arbitration reform that mirrors the cap is vital.
There is currently pending before the Legislature two versions of arbitration reform. In one version, A-3283, arbitrators, mediators or fact finders would be prevented from recommending or awarding any settlement that would exceed by more than 2% the total economic impact on the public employer.
The other version, A-3393 has already been reported out of Committee, and may go before the full Assembly any day. This version does not require an Arbitrator to adhere to the 2% cap, rather, it simply adds the cap to a list of nine criteria that should be considered by the Arbitrator in making a decision.
For obvious reasons, the need for a hard cap on arbitration awards is vital to the success of the hard cap on property taxes. To provide otherwise will slowly and inexorably eat away at all governmental functions until all that are left are those functions that are carried out by collective bargaining unit employees. Eventually even those "protected" employees will be downsized to feed the public sector union monster.
The group from the New Jersey Conference of Mayors was made up of mayors from both sides of the aisle. Republicans, Democrats, large towns and small, all who have engaged in the municipal budget process recognize the need for this reform. The need for arbitration reform is not a partisan issue, it is an issue of economic and financial necessity.
http://www.politickernj.com/42542/trenton-democrats-don-t-care-about-your-property-taxes |
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| Posted: Wed, Oct 27 2010, 11:51 pm EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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| And Trenton republicans DO care?????????? |
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| Posted: Thu, Oct 28 2010, 8:01 am EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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| Guest wrote: | | And Trenton republicans DO care?????????? |
Uh, have you seen the attempts to get rid of COAH and to implement reform. I would say yes they DO care. The problem is that while Christie is the Governor the Republicans still do not control the Senate or Assembly. |
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| Posted: Thu, Oct 28 2010, 8:46 am EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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| Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | | And Trenton republicans DO care?????????? |
Uh, have you seen the attempts to get rid of COAH and to implement reform. I would say yes they DO care. The problem is that while Christie is the Governor the Republicans still do not control the Senate or Assembly. |
It's been my experience that politicians say ANYTHING to get their jobs, but, then act to pay back their cronies once they get into office. At least, Democrats like to throw a few crumbs back to the public. republicans, want to have it all for themselves and are shameless in doing just that. They are like crocodiles who smile while they eat you! |
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| Posted: Thu, Oct 28 2010, 11:32 am EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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| Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | | And Trenton republicans DO care?????????? |
Uh, have you seen the attempts to get rid of COAH and to implement reform. I would say yes they DO care. The problem is that while Christie is the Governor the Republicans still do not control the Senate or Assembly. |
I call BS. I voted for Christie because Corzine was trying to consolidate small towns under the political fantasy that it was good for property taxes when it is obvious that this is inconsistent with the publically available facts that any person with a brain could get and interpret. Which meant he was cynically saying something that wasn't true because enough idiots believed it and it was an easy target with no real organized opposition.
So what does Christie do as soon as he's elected? The same exact thing, making cynical speeches that are heavy on anecdote and short on real facts because the facts contradict the premise. Christie has already publically declared war on Townships like Cranbury, making it clear he would like to force us to consolidate with our larger neighbors. But if you look at the facts all our larger neighbors are less cost effective than we are, spending as much or more per student on their schools for much worse results and needing dramatically more state aid to fund their schools than we do, where we get none. So what Christie really would be accomplishing is transferring the burden for funding our neighbors from the state to Cranbury’s taxpayers. He wants to re-distribute our taxes to our neighbors, plain and simple. Consistently when you look at the largest towns/cities and school districts in this state you fund they have the most overhead and the least efficiency per student or population. Any politician who uses consolidation as their supposed solution for low taxes is either cynical or an idiot. I vote for cynical. And therefore he has no real goal to save me on taxes.
Next time I’m not voting for either party for Governor. They are all crooks. |
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| Posted: Fri, Oct 29 2010, 6:25 am EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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I call BS on your BS. Christie has stated he is against forced consolidation and has made no moves to force consolidation. Where you may be confused is he is opposed to subsidizing a town's refusal to share services or consider other smart financial decisions. There's a big difference between the state forcing towns to consolidate and the state refusing to subsidize poor financial decisions at the local level.
Under Christie, Cranbury is safer because we make smart decisions, share services and (for the most part) pay our own way. |
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| Posted: Fri, Oct 29 2010, 7:38 am EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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| Guest wrote: | I call BS on your BS. Christie has stated he is against forced consolidation and has made no moves to force consolidation. Where you may be confused is he is opposed to subsidizing a town's refusal to share services or consider other smart financial decisions. There's a big difference between the state forcing towns to consolidate and the state refusing to subsidize poor financial decisions at the local level.
Under Christie, Cranbury is safer because we make smart decisions, share services and (for the most part) pay our own way. |
You apparently will believe anything. |
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| Posted: Fri, Oct 29 2010, 8:06 am EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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| Guest wrote: |
You apparently will believe anything. |
Its easy to talk sh!t. Back it up with facts, Bozo! Prove I'm wrong. |
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| Posted: Fri, Oct 29 2010, 9:49 am EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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| Guest wrote: | I call BS on your BS. Christie has stated he is against forced consolidation and has made no moves to force consolidation. Where you may be confused is he is opposed to subsidizing a town's refusal to share services or consider other smart financial decisions. There's a big difference between the state forcing towns to consolidate and the state refusing to subsidize poor financial decisions at the local level.
Under Christie, Cranbury is safer because we make smart decisions, share services and (for the most part) pay our own way. |
I call BS on your calling BS on my calling BS...
I have seen Governor Christie speak on this matter and there was nothing in his speech that made the distinctions you suggest. Not only that, but he was clearly trying to whip up populist anger against small towns as one of the causes of our tax woes. He went on and on about how we have way too many towns, quoting the # at 600-and-something, and how these small towns have no rational reason to exist and how silly it was that they weren’t just merged with the larger towns around them. He even used the town he lived in as an example. If he believed the core issue was whether the town receives state subsidy he did not even hint at it. But what he definitely did was repeat the same lie that Corzine previous used that larger towns are more efficient. Yet the facts prove this wrong. Our larger towns are for the most part LESS efficient and receive most of our state aid.
So if his goal was targeting wasteful state subsidy, why didn’t he make this point instead of villianizing small towns without qualification? And why did he focus on small towns in the first place when that is not the major source of our state subsidies to municipalities and schools?
Governor Christie’s position seemed very clear from his own words and if this is not how he feels show us otherwise. Quote from his public record where he said to the contrary, where he called out any small township as an exception to his incorrect generalizations or where he qualified that small townships are not inherently the problem, only if they rely on too much state aid. Or invite Christie to speak here. If he has any integrity he would speak about what a great example Cranbury is for the state, about how we get along with virtually no state money, that we contribute substantial money to the state and how we have a blue ribbon school despite no outside funding. Because that’s not what I heard from his lips… |
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| Posted: Fri, Oct 29 2010, 10:49 am EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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| Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | I call BS on your BS. Christie has stated he is against forced consolidation and has made no moves to force consolidation. Where you may be confused is he is opposed to subsidizing a town's refusal to share services or consider other smart financial decisions. There's a big difference between the state forcing towns to consolidate and the state refusing to subsidize poor financial decisions at the local level.
Under Christie, Cranbury is safer because we make smart decisions, share services and (for the most part) pay our own way. |
I call BS on your calling BS on my calling BS...
I have seen Governor Christie speak on this matter and there was nothing in his speech that made the distinctions you suggest...
Quote from his public record where he said to the contrary... Because that’s not what I heard from his lips… |
Like you, I've heard the Gov speak on the issue on more than one occasion. I don't recall the other sources but I know I heard him make this distinction on "Ask the Governor", perhaps you can get a transcript. I listened very carefully when he spoke about consolidation, because like you, I care a lot about the issue.
Christie has been clear about this issue- as a result of reductions in state aid, towns will be facing tough choices that will force them to consider sharing services or consolidating vs. steep tax increases. This is very different than having a panel assigned by the state forcing towns to consolidate. |
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| Posted: Fri, Oct 29 2010, 11:01 am EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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| Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | | Guest wrote: | I call BS on your BS. Christie has stated he is against forced consolidation and has made no moves to force consolidation. Where you may be confused is he is opposed to subsidizing a town's refusal to share services or consider other smart financial decisions. There's a big difference between the state forcing towns to consolidate and the state refusing to subsidize poor financial decisions at the local level.
Under Christie, Cranbury is safer because we make smart decisions, share services and (for the most part) pay our own way. |
I call BS on your calling BS on my calling BS...
I have seen Governor Christie speak on this matter and there was nothing in his speech that made the distinctions you suggest...
Quote from his public record where he said to the contrary... Because that’s not what I heard from his lips… |
Like you, I've heard the Gov speak on the issue on more than one occasion. I don't recall the other sources but I know I heard him make this distinction on "Ask the Governor", perhaps you can get a transcript. I listened very carefully when he spoke about consolidation, because like you, I care a lot about the issue.
Christie has been clear about this issue- as a result of reductions in state aid, towns will be facing tough choices that will force them to consider sharing services or consolidating vs. steep tax increases. This is very different than having a panel assigned by the state forcing towns to consolidate. |
Corzine enever had a panel enpowered to force townships to consolidate either. The only panel that ended up existing was one that could make recommendations on school consolidations that then had to be voted on locally, and it never got that far. What was proposed for municipalities was the same -- approval would have required a local vote. |
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| Posted: Fri, Oct 29 2010, 2:06 pm EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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You are technically correct about Corzine's stand. As the others are technically correct on Christies's stand. I would say that in their heart of hearts they have almost the same position on small town's like Cranbury, they want them consolidated.
The problem is it is hard to do. Corzine's base, northern Urban New Jersey, loved the idea that consolidating small town's would solve all of the states budget issues. So, Corzine talked a big game about consolidating, it was a popular issue with his voter's. However, it is brutally hard to mandate this kind of consolidation, so in effect he did nothing.
Christie's base is pissed off suburbanites, like the potty mouth in an earlier post. Some of whom live in smaller communities. These folks hate the idea of forced consolidation, so he talks a good game about community control. He knows, as did Corzine ,how tough it is to force consolidation. Hus plan is too let them whither away. Just simply cut off all funding. Our school gets nothing from the state, however I am sure the mandates keep right on coming. It will only be a matter of time until this becomes untenable.
So, my belief is Corzine or Christie it really doesn't matter they have declared war on places like Cranbury. I think most of the Corzine supporter's are coming around to this reality. The Christie boy's will need to see another year or so, of his starve the beast program, but they will realize it soon enough. |
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| Posted: Fri, Oct 29 2010, 2:50 pm EDT Post subject: Re: Trenton Democrats Don’t Care About Your Property Taxes |
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Correct.
And if Christie was really about less taxes and smaller government he would prioritize taking on the State mandates. It is hypocritical for him to attack municipal and school budgets otherwise when these represent such a disproportionate part of local costs. Over 25% our school budget are these mandates, which benefit less than 10% of students. While on the municipal side we are forced to over-fund our library, as but one example. All because the state says so then does nothing to support their own programs.
Without attacking state mandates Christie is nothing by hypocritical hot air. |
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