Skillman Village neads leaders’ focus

Paul and Joan Woitach of Montgomery
    We are deeply disappointed and frustrated to read that the Montgomery Township Committee leadership “has its focus away from the Skillman Village Project” because of a Dec. 31 COAH meeting.
   Thanks to Skillman Village, Montgomery has $63 million in debt. That’s nearly $9,000 per household. Gov. Corzine is implementing drastic cuts that will bring more debt to Montgomery. Who is minding the store to help reign in this massive debt, now that no developers will be stepping up for the foreseeable future?
   Read the coverage in the Star Ledger and Courier News; the developers’ reluctance goes far deeper than the current credit crisis. Mayor Birge was quoted there as saying the reasons for the developers pulling out included the economy, market conditions ( i.e. local real estate market and market alternatives for the developers) and “other practical realities.”
   So now we have $63 million in debt, no one to assume it as planned and no solution is sight plus additional unplanned debt service of nearly $1 million per year. Will the township be passing on another 16 percent-plus increase like last year? It certainly isn’t going to be smaller.
   We are disappointed that this is not a top priority. The credit crisis is not the Township Committee’s fault but the committee leadership should not try to “hope” it away. How can they be focused away from such a massive issue? I hope that they are not distracted and perhaps trying to distance themselves as they run for higher office outside of Montgomery. Didn’t Barack Obama suggest that leaders should be able to do two things at once?
   The time is now to put partisan politics aside, forget whose ideas about Skillman Village were good or bad and deal with the economic realities as they are, not as we wish they were. We need town leadership with a realistic plan to dig out of the economic hole into which the town is sinking deeper every day that we’re “focused on other things.”
Paul and Joan Woitach
Montgomery