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Health & Fitness

A Community at a Crossroads

A reflection on the current challenges facing Lawrence Township and a set of common principles offered to guide the decisions of Township Council regarding the 2012 Budget.

Our community of Lawrence Township is at a critical juncture, and residents recently made their views clear at the polls in April when both the school board budget and the Township referendum to override the statutory tax cap, which would have increased the municipal tax rate by a total of $.14 per $100 of assessed value, were both defeated.  Finances are tight all around and the voters said, "Enough is enough." 

I've heard the expression "You can't get blood from a stone" countless times.  I believe those words aptly represent what most voters, what most taxpayers, in town feel, but I think "Enough is enough" goes beyond that as well.  Virtually everyone, during the most difficult economic era since the Great Depression, has had to re-order/re-structure/re-organize their lives in order to manage financially and preserve their fiscal well-being, the well-being and the future vitality of their households. 

Governments have been faced with similar challenges, but because of sources like "the surplus" have, in many cases, been able to "kick the can down the road" a bit further, thus putting off the most difficult and unpopular decisions, perhaps hoping things will get better or perhaps putting off the inevitable.

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For Lawrence Township, the can has been kicked down the road as far it can and now "the butcher's bill is due."  The surplus has been utilized, and its balance is at dangerously low levels.  We can't keep borrowing from ourselves or shifting things around so we are left with a few options.

One option is to increase revenue.  The only way to increase revenue with certainty is to increase the tax levy which would mean increasing the tax rate.  To keep business as usual, however, would require raising taxes above the statutory 2% increase limit.  Township Council proceeded to post the referendum at the election in April, and the effort failed:  Residents voted down both the school board budget and the township referendum.

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That leaves us with the remaining option to limit spending by cutting costs in order to live within the statutory tax cap. There are no easy answers here, but there are answers.  One answer seemed to be the user fee on garbage collection.  Personally, I was willing to pay for garbage pick up but not willing to support the tax increase because ultimately garbage collection is a cost that can be controlled since we can work to reduce our waste and therefore reduce the tonnage.  But in reality, having reviewed the comments offered on the issue by both the Senate President who is a Democrat and the Governor who is a Republican I see that, for municipalities that previously included garbage collection in their budgets, converting to a user fee is a circumvention of the tax cap, not a solution.

So the next option is cutting expenses by reducing township services, that is by reducing the services all residents receive for free.  In the budget preparation process, the Township Manager identified personnel cuts and service reductions in several departments that would be needed together to keep us within the tax cap. I never take the Manager's presentations as something he is promoting personally but rather a professional financial assessment offered in light of his responsibility and the information that has been requested by Council. In fact, having lived in New Jersey 40+ years, I think that we have one of the finest Township Managers (in some places, business administrators) in the State.  The problem is Council and the decades of poor fiscal decisions that have been made for the benefit of political comfort or out of lack of true understanding of the long-term consequences of their financial choices.

Now we are facing the consequences of the choices we have delegated to others to make for us.  So where do we cut?  Do we cut personnel? Do we cut services?  How do we decide who gets cut?  How do we decide what gets cut? 

A process like this not only needs to be characterized by transparency, integrity, inclusiveness, and openness but also, and perhaps most importantly, by articulation of a common set of core values/principles/priorities that will guide the decisions being made.  I have said this in past budget years and believe it to be all the more true this year.

What matters to Lawrence Township as a community?

Having lived here for more than 10 years and been an interested member of the community, I propose the following decision-making principles and priorities:

* Quality of Life and Well-Being of Residents

* Concern for the Environment, Natural Resources, and Those in Need of Assistance

* Quality Educational System

These common priorities, in my view, translate into the following action steps for Council:

* Public safety is fundamental to quality of life and the well-being of residents.   The budget cannot be balanced on the back of the Police Department.  Such an action in fact punishes and maybe even jeopardizes the wellbeing and security of the Township residents. The reality is that given the increased number of residents in the Township we could stand to increase our police force.  At minimum, we should advocate for increased resources for the existing force, and in no way should we accept that reductions in the police department are viable options.  A few years ago, I spoke during the public comment period at a Council meeting and set straight the misconception that Council needs to balance the interests of the police department against the interests of the residents.  With all due respect, I stated, the interest of the police department -- which is public safety -- is the interest of the community and we need to stop juxtaposing the two as an either/or.

*  Concern for the environment, preservation of natural resources, and promoting sustainability in the long run usually save money and are good decisions.  We should not be comforted into choices that will cost us more or have more negative impact in the long run or for future generations.  It's time to stop "kicking the can down the road."

* A quality public education system is an asset to a community.  Here in Lawrence we are fortunate to have the public schools we do.  While the budget for LTPS is not administered by Council, we need to keep our commitment to the schools at the forefront of our collective consciousness.  Personally I voted for the School Board budget because, as I have said in the past, when they perform well I can choose to pay additional school taxes because I recognize it as an investment and further the actual tax levy combined was less than in previous years.  It was the tax rate that, due to lost ratables, increased slightly but within the statutory cap.  Unfortunately when the rejected budget went before Council they slashed $500,000 from it, a decision I don't believe was made based on sound fiscal or educational policy.

So, where then we do we cut?

Practically speaking, I think these ideas translate into the following:

1) Cut only where and what is necessary.

2) Begin with those things that are most likely to be restored when finances allow.

3) Consider user fees for those services that are used by the fewest residents, or to flip it, consider user fees for those services that are not used by residents widely and only by certain segments. 

4) Consider where duplications exist, e.g., in lieu of cutting out certain recreation services see if there are services that can be provided by the School System so that the user fee goes there, a different way of approaching shared services.

5) Stay vigilant as a community about the long-term business decisions of Council.  They represent us, they don't run us.  We delegate a lot of our daily lives to them.  There needs to be greater involvement on the part of the community and greater accountability on their part. 

Finally, let's remember what makes Lawrence Township Lawrence Township:  its people. "We, the people."  These are difficult times in which we live, and we need to be sure that we don't lose sight of the fact we all call Lawrence Township home.

 

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