Candidates: Fiscal issues are key to Montgomery’s future

By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
   MONTGOMERY — The development of Skillman Village and future fiscal decision-making remain some of the most important issues currently facing the township, according to the two major-party candidates squaring off for a seat on the Township Committee in November’s election.
   Both candidates are relative political newcomers this year, with longtime township resident and Republican Kathleen “Kacey” Dyer having first entered politics last year when she unsuccessfully ran for a Township Committee seat against Democrat Mike Joye.
   Democrat Keith Hovey, the current chairman of NJ for Obama grassroots campaign, said he first decided to become politically involved two years ago, following the untimely death of his father.
   ”I was at the point where I really wanted to do something with my life,” said Mr. Hovey, who recently returned from the Democratic National Convention in Denver. “I wanted to work in the community and get involved locally, so I got involved with the Obama campaign here in New Jersey.”
   In interviews conducted last week, both candidates agreed that whatever ends up at Skillman Village will strongly impact present and future Montgomery residents. Right now township officials are weighing various plans for the site and deciding on a company to undertake its development.
   Therefore, at this crucial juncture, Skillman Village remains a key issue in the race for a three-year term on the Township Committee, for Mr. Hovey, 32, of Scarlet Oak Drive, and Ms. Dyer, 30, of Bunker Drive.
   Ms. Dyer, a Montgomery High School graduate and assistant vice president with Merrill Lynch, said she and many other residents are seriously concerned about how the current government has continued to spend significant money, up to $20 million, on the cleanup and planning for the site.
   ”The expense has gotten out of control,” said Ms. Dyer, of many the money spent on the 68-acre former North Princeton Developmental Center site.
   Those costs could result in development out of scale with what the people of Montgomery desire, according to Ms. Dyer, as municipal officials try to recoup some of the cleanup and planning costs through higher-density development.
   To prevent that, and bring a new view to a Township Committee made up of four Democrats and a single Republican, the voters of the township should vote for her, Ms. Dyer said.
   ”The existing committee has four Democrats that seem wedded to this vision of development,” said Ms. Dyer, who serves on the Montgomery Recreation Committee. “I would come in with an open mind. I am not completely committed to what they have backed themselves into.”
   Mr. Hovey, a Seton Hall-educated attorney who moved to Montgomery in 2006, had a more favorable view of development plans for the site, which he said could be done responsibly without resulting in something too big.
   ”I, like many in Montgomery, like this idea of a community center, an area where mixed residential and commercial uses create a vibrant community,” said Mr. Hovey, who worked on the campaigns of various Montgomery Democrats last year. “And I think that, when it comes to Skillman Village, to minimize the tax burden there is going to be a need for mixed commercial and residential use, while maximizing the amount of open space.”
   The mix of uses on the site is crucial, because it will help ensure that Skillman Village does not experience high levels of vacancies, or become blighted like some area developments, Mr. Hovey said.
   The development of Skillman Village will likely have a significant impact on the township’s financial situation, regardless of what is constructed there, said Ms. Dyer, who graduated from the University of Vermont with a political science degree.
   She said her successful election would help address what she called questionable fiscal decisions made by the township’s leading Democrats. She specifically pointed to how the current regime has consistently injected millions of dollars in surplus into each successive municipal budget in order to keep down the tax rate.
   ”The surplus was over $20 million when the Democrats took control, and now it’s down to less than $5 million,” Ms. Dyer said.
   Ms. Dyer questioned the need to spend surplus dollars at a time when the township was spending significant money on Skillman Village, including the $6 million restoration of a nearby lake associated with the development.
   She rejected the notion that recent state aid cuts, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, necessitated the expenditure of the surplus money.
   Mr. Hovey, who sits on the township Board of Health, said the township’s future fiscal health was of even more importance in light of Council on Affordable Housing regulations that mandate significant new affordable housing construction.
   ”I think addressing the state’s requirements for affordable housing is going to be a major issue that we need to be aware of and deal with,” said Mr. Hovey, who also stressed his focus on bicycle and pedestrian-related improvements in Montgomery.