Editorial
By:
It seems that Hightstown Councilman Eugene Sarafin’s suggestion that East Windsor and Hightstown become one municipality has fallen on deaf ears. Perhaps nothing he proposes will be taken seriously; his antics since joining council have taken center stage over real issues. But this idea is one we think people should consider.
The borough’s financial future is unstable at best. It is expensive to maintain services with a relatively small population and a stagnant tax base. Municipal taxes in Hightstown have risen astronomically in recent years. If it weren’t for "extraordinary aid" from the state, borough residents wouldn’t be able to afford to live there not that they can now.
Hightstown taxpayers should be insisting the Borough Council look into a merger. Some residents worry about losing the borough’s identity. While it may be romantic to live in a small, historic borough, and a sense of pride can be derived from the borough’s past, these things would not change if Hightstown became a part of East Windsor. It still would be known as the Hightstown area of East Windsor and history never will change. The infrastructure, appearance, and atmosphere wouldn’t change either the borough is built-out, it can’t change much at all. There’s no room for a Wal-Mart in Hightstown.
The move clearly would benefit Hightstown by providing lower taxes and a more stable economy. But convincing East Windsor taxpayers that a merger would be a good idea is a different story. The township’s costs certainly would rise. Simply taxing Hightstown residents the current township rate may not cover the increased cost.
This is where the state should come in. State officials have said it would be wise for "doughnut-hole" municipalities such as Hightstown to merge with their surrounding entities. And last year, a state Assembly bill was proposed to make that process easier. It would have provided increased state aid to merging municipalities for 10 years. Unfortunately, the bill never was passed.
Legislation is needed at the state level to provide incentive for municipalities to merge. Currently, a municipality must tax all of its taxpayers at the same rate. But what if that were not the case? What if a special exception was made for mergers, in which the town with the higher tax rate could continue paying that higher rate for a number of years after the merger? Here, in other words, Hightstown taxpayers still would be taxed at 98 cents per $100 of assessed property value for municipal purposes and East Windsor taxpayers still would see their tax rate of 38 cents. A period of five or 10 years could be provided before the entire municipality would have to assume the same tax rate.
Under this plan, there would be benefits for both sides Hightstown would see long-term tax relief as opposed to facing the current prospects of perpetually skyrocketing taxes. And East Windsor would see surpluses for years from the Hightstown taxpayers. Area residents should present this idea to local and state officials to see if there is any support in the Legislature for such a concept.
Today, it may be difficult to convince East Windsor taxpayers, but even without a change in state law, the move makes sense. In 1969, the merger attempt failed, although the Windsor-Hights Herald thought it was a good idea. Today, it seems it would fail again. But again, this newspaper thinks it is necessary. It will be interesting to see how high Hightstown taxpayers will let the tax rate get before they start demanding a merger.

