I am a concerned citizen raising my hand to try and make a difference in a community struggling towards fundamental changes. The citizens are asking for help with reducing their taxes, they want combined services from the two municipalities to reduce the excessive spending, and many are concerned with maintaining safety in their neighborhoods.
I’ve been a small business owner and manager. My background in finance has helped me understand how to solve problems related to business accounting and process. Currently, I’m a branch manager for a major financial company. My experience balancing budgets and managing money will be invaluable toward solving today’s financial pressures and strain on our local government.
I’m a proud mom with two wonderful daughters. With a child at Princeton High School and another off to college, I understand from a personal perspective the importance of local school funding and accountability.
The issues important to me are the same issues I hear from folks as I go door to door throughout our community. It is unanimous with all citizens that our local taxes are too high, spending is excessive and often unrelated to the delivery of service in the community and our streets are not as safe as they should be. Like many of my neighbors, I moved to Princeton because of the diversity, charm, accessibility and culture. Unfortunately, many people are too eager to apologize for high taxes and lack of service. I am running to represent all Princetonians, especially those who lack the resources to pay the rising and excessive tax burden and those who need government support and services the most. The answer shouldn’t be, “Move if you can’t afford it”, the answer is change.
We need a balance of local opinion represented in our governing body. We need to create an atmosphere of total openness and accountability where all citizens can take part and have a voice in local government. A large part of the problem has been a lack of constructive, representative dialogue with more than a decade of one party domination over local government. Accountability and transparency will emerge from a positive, diverse dialogue at Township Hall. There’s no excuse for increasing a tax burden on citizens already struggling to make ends meet. As a first step, the current budget needs to be reallocated to provide service and reduce the weight of the bureaucracy on our community. The follow up step will be to reduce the tax burden to make the neighborhood more affordable for the seniors currently living there and more affordable for the younger families just starting out.
I’ve got the experience and grounded business and political principles to bring a positive change to local government. I’m also a Republican and its time to have a two-party system restored in our town.
