Borough wrestles with capital priorities
Borough
ÿ8BOROUGHÿ
Lauren OtisStaff Writer
Members of Princeton Borough Council debated the wisdom of continuing to maintain a $3.6 million cap on the borough’s annual debt service payments and the appropriateness of embarking on an $850,000 renovation of Harrison Street Park in the current fiscal climate during a special council session Tuesday night devoted to capital budget and debt management issues.
In a presentation, Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi said $2.7 million allocated in 2009 for reconstruction of Mercer Street contributed to a street and road improvement budget that year of just under $4.1 million. Once the major outlay for Mercer Street reconstruction is made, “then we are into more of a maintenance mode for our streets and roads,” requiring $1.6 million to be budgeted annually, he said.
Joint Recreation Department allocations would total $1.25 million annually, allocated for Harrison Street Park and initial funding for the Community Pool reconstruction and other recreation improvements, Mr. Bruschi said. These and other capital allocations would result in a capital budget in excess of $6.6 million for fiscal year 2009, Mr. Bruschi said.
This capital budget would go down to about $4.14 million for 2010 and remain at that level through 2014, Mr. Bruschi said, under projections borough administration has drawn up. “$4 million is a lot of money to be spending on projects in a down economy,” Mr. Bruschi said, but he noted that it is also a good time to bid out projects to contractors who have little work and that debt financing terms are advantageous at present.
General improvement debt service for fiscal year 2009 would total around $3.4 million, steadily increasing to a projected $4.36 million for fiscal year 2014, according to Mr. Bruschi. “In essence our plan works for the first three-and-a-half years and then we are skewed,” Mr. Bruschi said of the climbing debt service. Borough Council needed to go over its long-term spending priorities to see if it could bring debt service more in line with the $3.6 million cap council agreed to several years ago, he said.
Councilman David Goldfarb expressed concern with moving away from the $3.6 million cap, noting that the cap had been set in the recent past. At the time it was set there was a big jump in taxes to support the debt increase, which did not please taxpayers, Mr. Goldfarb said.
”We did it with our eyes wide open. We did it to take advantage of good rates,” he said. He said the $3.6 million debt service cap should continue to guide council’s capital budgeting discussions.
”I agree with you,” Mr. Bruschi said. “It just comes down to having to make hard choices in a hard year.”
Borough Council members were in agreement that the outlay for Mercer Street was necessary.
”Basically every road must be resurfaced every 20 years and every road must be reconstructed every 40 years, more or less,” Mr. Goldfarb said. “We can’t fall behind because the consequence of falling behind is we have to catch up.”
Speaking about the Harrison Street Park renovation, Council President Andrew Koontz said, “In a lot of ways the stars and planets have aligned on this project this year and it is time for the borough to move forward.”
Councilman Kevin Wilkes also backed going forward with the park renovation, noting that the surrounding community had spent a large amount of time and effort working out a plan with the firm Edgewater Design. “With this we can both lead and work with the community to get this done,” he said.
”I do think we should move ahead with the project in some form. My question is, in what form?” said Councilman Roger Martindell. Mr. Martindell questioned going forward with a project that was originally budgeted at $300,000 and was likely to cost close to $900,000 currently. “Given the economic climate, to take a project and triple the budget is something of a stretch,” he said.
Mr. Martindell said a $40,000 tree house that was part of the project was questionable, and such money “could buy three or four down payments for affordable housing for a family to live in year ‘round.”
In the interest of being equitable to all borough parks, and the communities around them, Mr. Martindell urged the borough to draft a simple master plan outlining the major work it sought to accomplish on all its parks and how much it wished to budget for that work.
Mr. Goldfarb said he agreed with Mr. Martindell’s concerns and felt the project should go forward, but in scaled back form.
”I think it is time we take a look at this park and make it as beautiful as we can,” said Councilwoman Margaret Karcher. “You can’t do it all at once but sooner or later it will all be accomplished and this happens to be the park that is ready now,” she said.
At the meeting, several borough residents spoke in favor of going forward with a full scale renovation of Harrison Street Park.
Aiken Avenue resident Clifford Zink said he had been working with the borough on a renovation plan for seven years. The borough purchased the site of the park in 1952, Mr. Zink said. “If you go around the park today you won’t find anything that has been invested in the park since the 1950s,” he said.
The park has severe drainage problems, aging trees with no new plantings, and out-of-date playground equipment, most of which has been removed because it was deemed unsafe, Mr. Zink said. “The bottom line is, you add all that up, it is time to reinvest in the park for the next 50 years,” Mr. Zink said.
Marie Rickman, a Patton Avenue resident, said Edgewater Design’s park renovation plan was anything but extravagant, with community members very careful to question whether all aspects of it were necessary. Part of the magnitude of the expenditure derived from the longstanding neglect of the park, Ms. Rickman said. She said the park needed to be completely replanted, citing the lack of any plants, flowers or shrubs, with only invasive species present. “It’s irresponsible to leave a property like that,” she said.
”The park has such wonderful potential,” said Princeton Avenue resident Stephen Downs. “Nobody goes there because nobody goes there,” he said.
Mr. Goldfarb said the borough could work with Edgewater Design on prioritizing the renovation plan into specific pieces that could be put out to bid individually, with the full work done if funds were available.
Mr. Martindell and Mr. Koontz said they would support this approach.
Mayor Mildred Trotman said she also endorsed this piecemeal approach. “We clearly recognize that the park needs to be done,” Mayor Trotman said, but “it is not likely that council will support doing a project that is $850,000 because it can’t be done this year.”
In his capital budget presentation, Mr. Bruschi also described other capital budget targets, including: $400,000 for the Fire Department and $110,000 for the police; $400,000 for public works vehicles and equipment, and another $120,000 for other public works facilities maintenance and upkeep; and $900,000 for sewer improvements.

