Student journalist interviews key players, concludes combination of the two Princetons won’t happen anytime soon.
By: Jeff Milgram
Student journalists at Princeton High School are taking on one of the most divisive community issues: consolidation of the borough and township.
"Princeton Township and Princeton Borough have operated under two separate governments since 1894," The Tower said in an introduction to a special one-page section in the November edition, which came out Wednesday. "For years, residents of both municipalities have been trying to merge the two Princetons into one government. In 1996, the last time the consolidation issue was voted on, it was overwhelmingly approved in the township, but rejected in the borough."
To see if consolidation has legs now, Editor-in-Chief Rafe Kinsey assigned writer Andrew Black to interview borough Mayor Marvin Reed, township Mayor Phyllis Marchand, Princeton Regional Board of Education President Charlotte Bialek, Princeton University’s Director of Community and State Affairs Pam Hersh and PHS English teacher Suzanne Thompson, a borough resident.
It was quite a learning experience, Andrew said. "I learned a lot of things I never encountered before," he said.
The idea for the feature began as an opinion column, Andrew said. But while The Tower did not editorialize on the issue, Andrew said, it was "stupid to keep the towns separate."
The idea to merge the two municipalities was born in 1952, when the League of Women Voters of the Princeton Area issued a report calling for a unified Princeton. But it was soundly rejected by voters of both municipalities the next year.
In 1965, a joint committee on municipal operations concluded that consolidation was not "practicable." In 1973, a Joint Consolidation Committee was appointed and three years later the panel recommended a merger. A consolidation commission was created in 1978 and in 1979 the merger was approved in the township but defeated in the borough by 33 votes.
In November 1991, the borough defeated the creation of a merger study commission, while township voters supported it.
The issue wasn’t put to a public vote again until 1996.
According to The Tower, consolidation would lower the average borough property owner’s tax by $277 but raise the average tax in the township by $146. It would cost between $300,000 and $400,000 to bring about the merger, but it would save more than $700,000 in salaries and benefits, The Tower said.
Mayor Reed told Andrew, "It may come up in about five or six years."
Mayor Marchand wasn’t sure that township voters would support a merger. "Now maybe we feel we’ve come into our own," she told The Tower.
Ms. Bialek pointed out that a merger might lower property taxes. "However the share of school taxes would not be significantly affected," she said.
"I believe that some borough folks think they have special cachet, and are perhaps better in some way than township people," Ms. Bialek said. "I hope I am wrong about this."
Princeton University is neutral on the issue.
"Increased collaboration between the two municipalities is in everyone’s best interest, whether or not that collaboration is formalized," Ms. Hersh said.
Ms. Thompson is all for consolidation. "It would save money, and there would be a sense of unity," she said.
Rafe is pessimistic about the chance for a merger anytime soon. "It’s not going to happen in the near future," he said.