GOP Council Candidates: One Party Rule in Lawrence Must End

With primary elections decided earlier this month, candidates for the Lawrence Township Council have now set their sights on the general election in November. 

Republican challengers Max Ramos and Glenn Collins recently united their campaigns following their unopposed primary wins, with their goals firmly aligned to bring a new perspective to the all-Democrat Lawrence council. The duo will challenge incumbent Councilmen Stephen Brame and Jim Kownacki. 

"It's really about checks and balances. When you have a single minded focus, group think starts to set in and there is very little opportunity for alternate voices to be heard," Ramos said.

Collins currently works as a senior adjuster with the Encompass Insurance Company and serves as a member of the Lawrence Township Planning Board and Recreational Advisory Committee. Ramos works as a Sales Executive with the Hewlett-Packard Company and was recently appointed to serve on Lawrence Township’s Growth and Redevelopment committee.

The duo pointed to their business acumen as something desperately needed to reduce the rising tide of local property tax increases. 

Last month, the Township Council voted unanimously to adopt a $43 million spending plan that raised the municipal tax rate to $0.94 per $100 of assessed property value from $0.89. The tax rate increase, combined with a new $25 fee for bulk trash pickup, will result in the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $160,262 paying an additional $105 in municipal taxes for 2013. 

Collins said the public was never made aware of possible alternatives for the bulk trash fee, which he said was an issue that should've been discussed in a public forum.

"The key is we have no idea what's going on in the back room where they meet prior to (council) meetings," Collins said. "They go over different positions, but we don't know what the other options are. We need somebody in there to find out what the other options are. With the garbage fee, we don't know what other options were there because they're not trying to give us other choices."

The two GOP candidates accused the council of using the bulk trash fee as a way of skirting the two percent tax cap after voters rejected a referendum for a 9-cent tax increase in 2012. 

"They basically posed an ultimatum where their proposal was you either pay for a 17 percent tax increase or a 23 percent garbage increase," Ramos said. "Whoever governs the vote didn't allow the township to write the referendum that way and forced them to write that either the tax passes or it fails."

As has been the trend in townships throughout the state, the Lawrence council had to deal with the combined impact of declining ratables and increased tax appeals. The township’s ratable base dropped nearly $27.1 million in the last year. The decrease of $27.1 million in ratables alone amounted to a loss of tax revenue in 2013 of $254,952, according to township officials. 

Tax appeals have caused the township’s tax base to plummet more than $194 million since 2007.

Collins accused the township administration of a lack of foresight when the economy went south and townships throughout New Jersey began dealing with less tax revenue.

"The economy was going down and they had to see this coming, but they didn't do anything about it," he said. "Voters were two to one against the referendum, and we're talking about a Democratic town saying no we don't want this. So then they pulled a fast one at the end. It's a complete disgrace. We were one of two towns last year that couldn't pass a budget without going to referendum. If that's not mismanagement then there's something wrong here."

Ramos and Collins said that with Lawrence's prime location along Route 1, the township must take an aggressive approach to attract new businesses while making the approval process less cumbersome in order to increase the township’s tax base.

"We need to foster an environment where businesses want to come do business in Lawrenceville," Ramos said. "Right now it takes 18 to 24 months to get approval from zoning and planning. We can cite many examples, with Mrs. G's being one that finally got through after something in the neighborhood of 15 meetings. We have a 32-page document just for what people can do with signage. We need to appoint people to planning and zoning that have knowledge and a desire to have businesses come to Lawrenceville. The only options when ratables are going down is to increase taxes on residents or attract new businesses. I would choose the latter."

Collins added that as a planning board member, he's seen some of the more arduous codes the town has in place and the impact it has on bringing in new businesses.

"I think our professionals really need to look at some of our code enforcement for zoning and building and see what other towns are doing," he said. "Businesses are going (to other towns) for a reason. Why aren't they coming to Lawrence? Why wouldn't you want to come to Lawrence rather than neighboring towns? The reason has to be that all the restrictions make it hard to do construction here."

In the face of mounting tax appeals, Lawrence began a township-wide property revaluation this year. Lawrence was one of four Mercer County municipalities that have not conducted a revaluation within the last five years, with the township’s last revaluation performed in 1993. In 2011, the Mercer County Board of Taxation ordered Lawrence, Ewing, Hamilton and Trenton to conduct revaluations.

According to Ramos, the township waited far too long for a revaluation as the gap between the market value of township homes and the assessed value continued to grow wider.

"Big commercial properties can afford to hire lawyers (for tax appeals) but most property owners can't afford to do that and don't even know how to go about it," Ramos said. "It's a lack of vision to not see that house prices were out of whack, take our medicine and do the revaluation. That's our source of revenue, assessed value of property, and when there's a big gap between market value and assessed value you're going to be in this situation. But (the council) sat on their hands and waited until the county mandated they do a revaluation."

With election season around the corner, Collins and Ramos said they will sharpen their message to prospective voters that reduced municipal spending and responsible growth are of vital importance to mitigate the impact of the recession on Lawrence taxpayers. 

"Changes are needed because in a changing economy you have to do things differently," Collins said. "Every town around us is keeping within the two percent cap, so why can't Lawrence? There is no other reason than poor management."