Another term for incumbents in Montgomery

PACKET EDITORIAL, Oct. 27

By: Packet Editorial
   Republican Mark Caliguire doesn’t always go along with his four Democratic colleagues on the Montgomery Township Committee — but he does get along with them, and that says a lot about a governing body that prides itself on being more professional than political.
   Together with Democrat Cecilia Xie Birge, Mr. Caliguire is seeking a second term on the Township Committee — and we have seen nothing in either the performance or the demeanor of the two incumbents that should deny them re-election. On the contrary, we believe both exemplify the kind of thoughtful, diligent, hard-working and independent-thinking candidates we wish residents of all our area municipalities had the opportunity to return to elective office.
   Oh, we could nit-pick about Mr. Caliguire’s occasional bent toward populism when it comes to spending money. His proposal to tie municipal budget increases to the Consumer Price Index, for example, would not only needlessly hamstring township officials’ ability to respond to emergent conditions; it also ignores the fact that ratable growth in excess of the CPI actually allows Montgomery’s municipal budget to increase without raising the municipal tax rate. And Mr. Caliguire’s lone vote against authorizing the issuance of $5.5 million in bonds to restore Sylvan Lake on the former North Princeton Developmental Center property strikes us as a penny-wise, pound-foolish gesture. As Ms. Birge accurately points out, investing in a body of water that long ago stopped living up to its name — but could one day become the jewel in the crown of the revitalized NPDC site — will add recurring value far in excess of this one-time capital expenditure.
   This kind of thinking is what makes Ms. Birge such an asset on the Township Committee. A financial analyst by trade, she has been a driving force behind two important initiatives: refinancing the repayment of the township’s debt, and instituting a long-range budgetary planning process. These forward-thinking ideas seem to come as swiftly and naturally to the Beijing-born Ms. Birge as her acclimation to her new country and community. She moved to Montgomery in 2000, became an American citizen in 2001 and ran successfully for a Township Committee seat just two years later.
   Ms. Birge’s Democratic running mate, Brad Fay, is an attractive candidate, as well. He speaks knowledgeably about the most pressing concerns facing Montgomery residents — development, property taxes, traffic, open-space preservation — and has gained valuable insight into quality-of-life issues as president of the Montgomery Township Historical Society. Against a lesser opponent than Mr. Caliguire, we would not hesitate to endorse Mr. Fay.
   The fourth candidate, Republican Walter Geslak, seems intent on running a one-issue campaign. He thinks taxes in Montgomery are too high, and he thinks the Democrats — both locally and in Trenton — are to blame. But his assertion that the township "needs to go on a financial diet" is unsupported by a single suggestion of how or where the township’s operating budget could or should be trimmed. And he conveniently ignores the fact that municipal taxes in Montgomery have remained relatively stable in recent years, while county and school taxes have eaten up ever-larger slices of the tax pie.
   Montgomery is in good hands under the leadership and direction of its current officeholders. We heartily recommend a vote for both incumbents, Republican Mark Caliguire and Democrat Cecilia Xie Birge, for Township Committee.