On Tuesday, voters said no to a proposed 9-cent municipal tax increase by a 2-1 margin.
On Wednesday, a told the council that it had better find alternatives to the trash collection fee being proposed.
Now, it is your turn to weigh in. Lawrenceville Patch will run a series of polls and open-ended questions over the next 10 days, asking township residents to outline their priorities and give the council a sense of where it needs to go with the budget.
The referendum, which sought permission to raise the municipal tax rate 9 cents above the state’s 2 percent tax levy cap, was , with more than 3,700 total votes cast.
Residents during Wednesday’s meeting told council members they felt council was arrogant and had tried to “blackmail” voters into approving the referendum by threatening to impose a trash user fee should the 9-cent tax hike be turned down.
Today, we focus on the trash collection issue:
Now that voters have rejected the township’s tax referendum should the council:
- Continue to pay for trash collection through municipal taxes?
- Charge residents a fee for collection with an ability to opt out?
- Stop providing trash collection and require residents to contract out on their own?
Vote in the poll below and offer your suggestions in the comments.
A Lawrence officer did not crash a car last night while responding to a fight in progress and luckily walking away from the mangled car. Lawrence officers never deal with armed criminals or unruly people. Lawrence is Mayberry and a peaceful, happy, Utopia.
Lawrence BOE president L. Waters What State laws are these and who makes them?
Hopefully this will open your eyes. If not , for your sake, I hope Karma is just an idea.
Its a tax. and its the sort of tax you don't plan for, and its not always the bad drivers. Its the mom distracted and going 35 in a 25 as her kids scream in the back after a long day at work, its the dad in a rush to pick up the kids. Not to mention much of the cost of a ticket in't profit to the township, even if they clear $40 a ticket, thats 55,000 tickets needed to get the cash needed. or 150 a day. and you want people to come shop here.... if there is a safety issue with a road, report it, but don't think making trained police officers traffic cops is the answer either. and when you get that ticket for failing to make a complet stop when turning onto 206 and your car insurance goes up... thank the friendly voters of LT.
NO NONSENSE - I don't even know what your comment means. Is it somehow demeaning for cops to be doing their jobs by writing tickets and keeping the road safe?
FYI, a Mayberry (Lawrence) store (CVS) was robbed today. So just one more to add to the list I posted above.
Oh, and where did you observe 5 cars and 10 cops twiddling their thumbs. There should have been more than 5 cars being that these guys ride one cop per car...5 cars/cops possibly and justified depending on the specific nature of the call, which I guarantee you know nothing of...Should there be only 2 cops responding to your house when there is a burglary in progress or within the past few minutes of the call. Are you also aware that there are state mandates for the number of officers for particular types of jobs such as booking prisoners, regardless of the seriousness of the offense..and Lawrence has many arrests.
Layoffs are merely a knee jerk reaction and does not address or alleviate the problem. How does rendering one jobless help the economy. That person now goes on unemployment, and if unable to find another job when it expires, has to stop spending as much as possible, possibly deplete their savings on health care and unavoidable life costs, in turn possibly losing their home. I find it hard to believe that creative, analytical minds cannot devise a solution other than layoffs. If departments are top heavy with eligible or soon-to-be retirements, can there be a deal to be made that will save some money. Does the town realize that within the next two years, there will be a fairly large exodus from the police due to retirement eligibility? What sense does it make to layoff when the former scenario is evident? Just cut through attrition if you have to, don't turn people's lives upside down for a knee jerk, easy-way-out reaction.
Hopefully, we can stick together in hard times and come to a balance without turning lives upside down.
http://www.perc.state.nj.us/publicsectorcontracts.nsf/Contracts%20By%20Employer/ACD952BF81C9F524852577D600602B38/$File/Lawrence%20Tp%20and%20FOP%20Lodge%20209%20R&F%202009.pdf?OpenElement