By Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
EAST WINDSOR The Township Council and Hightstown Borough Council have now both taken the first tentative steps toward possible consolidation, agreeing to meet to discuss forming a commission to study the issue.
However, East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov reiterated her position this week that any arrangement would have to be mutually beneficial.
”We have indicated from the outset that we are open to the idea if we can see benefits for the township and real, tangible benefits for East Windsor taxpayers,” she said at Tuesday’s council meeting. “Before we go through with a more formalized process that will take up a lot of time and effort, I think we need to find answers to those questions.”
The Township Council had a question-and-answer session with consultants Greg Fehrenbach and Reagan Burkholder of Government Management Associates, which recently created a report studying the potential consolidation of the two towns. After which, the council made it clear that talks would begin.
The session also was attended by Hightstown Borough Council President Walter Sikorski and Councilman Mike Theokas. Both are outspoken supporters of consolidation.
The report privately commissioned by the Greater Hightstown-East Windsor Improvement Project and made public in February found that as much as $1.8 million could be saved annually by combining the two towns.
However, while the report projected an annual tax savings of more than $1,000 for Hightstown residents on their property taxes bills, it also projected a slight average increase, about $12 per year, for property taxpayers in East Windsor.
The report did not explicitly endorse consolidation, but recommended that the two towns form a join commission with the state Department of Community affairs to fully explore the issue. It said the costs of the commission and study would be covered by the DCA.
”The comment I’ve been hearing a lot from people is ‘Why would we do this?’ when all the benefits would seem to go to Hightstown Borough,” Mayor Mironov said.
”We have to be able to show individuals what the benefits would be,” she added.
The consultants noted that the state, in an effort to encourage consolidation, has promised to offset any increases that property taxpayers incur due to a merger with a property tax credit. However, they admitted that the credit is untested, as no towns have consolidated since the credit was established.
Mayor Mironov seemed unimpressed Tuesday by the potential of a property tax credit.
”We could stay flat on our own,” she said, despite a preliminary 2009 budget that carries a tax hike of close to 7 cents.
She also said the credit which only applies to the owner of the home at the time of consolidation could make it harder for people to sell their homes, because the tax rate would be higher for the next owner.
Councilman Marc Lippman also questioned whether the methods of the savings much of which come from combining services and eliminating duplicate positions could result in a reduction in services for the residents.
”It is possible that the new governing body (of a combined community) could reduce services,” Mr. Burkholder said. “But that would be the decision of the new governing body.”
Despite their apparent reservations, Mayor Mironov said she and several other council members would meet with Mr. Sikorski and other members of the Borough Council. She said Thursday that she had contacted Mr. Sikorski but no date had been set to meet.
”I am pleased that we are proceeding in an orderly fashion,” Mr. Sikorski said. “Obviously, I am happy that the response was a positive one and that we will continue with the process.”
Mr. Sikorski said he did not yet know which other borough leaders would join him.
Another consultant is concurrently studying the possibility of East Windsor taking over police duties in the borough along with a merger of the towns’ municipal courts. That study was begun as a potential means of addressing annual police-related costs in the borough that now stand at about $2.16 million.
