Jackie Barth of Montgomery
This year Skillman Village is the hot issue in Montgomery’s local and county campaigns. Not surprising, since the Skillman Village project is so important to the town, and represents a big investment.
Over the past several years, I have been very impressed with the skill, courage, professionalism and dogged determination shown by the Montgomery Township Committee. That most of the committee members are Democrats is irrelevant; as individuals and public servants, they have acted wisely and taken essential steps to protect the township and taxpayers.
The local Republican campaign is trying to make it look like Montgomery taxpayers are taking a bath in Skillman Village debt. Actually, Skillman Village accounts for about $120 per household in this year’s property taxes, and the debt payments are carefully structured to go down from this point on, not up. $120 is significant, but it is chump change compared with the cost of doing the wrong thing with that property.
For 33 cents a day, every household in Montgomery has peace of mind that the property is clean (it would not be if owned by a developer), that the asbestos and dangerous buildings have been removed, that the state’s plan to sell to a developer for at least 750 houses will never happen, that environmental liability was transferred permanently and irrevocably away from township taxpayers, that all costs of cleanup were negotiated in advance for a fixed price, and that most of the property will be preserved for open space and parkland.
This is an extraordinary set of achievements in less than two years since the township bought the property, and the local Republican candidate is trying to make it look like a disaster.
I applaud Cecilia Birge and her Democratic colleagues on the Township Committee for their careful and intelligent stewardship of township resources, including Skillman Village. I applaud her for jumping at the opportunity to get open space funding from the county for Skillman Village, and for keeping Montgomery’s municipal taxes lower than most comparable towns. I can’t wait to see her and Doug Singleterry shake things up in county government when they are elected to the freeholder board.
I applaud Keith Hovey, too, for running a positive, substantive, forward-focused campaign for Township Committee. He has excellent personal and professional qualifications, and a healthy respect for the responsibilities of public service and the complexity of the issues we face. He has my vote and I hope he has yours.
Jackie Barth
Montgomery

