Richard Westhouse of Montgomery
The problem with township consolidation across New Jersey is uncertainty in what the future holds and putting that process in the hands of politicians.
In a private capitalist society, corporate mergers and acquisitions take place so as to achieve economies of scale. Mergers and acquisitions allow the utilization of one process that may be underutilized for the amount of derived end product to be used to capacity. Without the merger, two organizations would have to use and develop and pay for two processes for half the end-product, thus incurring higher cost per product unit.
When Pfizer announced the purchase of Wyeth, it immediately announced a 10 percent reduction in the initial integrated work force. This is an example of the economies of scale.
The reason that Princeton Borough and Princeton Township will never merge is that the citizens do not trust the politicians to leverage economies of scale and the citizens believe that the only efficiencies to be gained from merger is the efficiency to spend more of your money.
Can your elected officials guarantee that there will be a reduction in work force? Can they tell you how much your taxes will be reduced?
Of course not, because even if there were a cost savings in some processes, it would be spent on something else.
So I ask, why bother? And this goes to the root of the issue with citizens resisting change of this scope. We do not trust politicians to do what is right any more. We do not entrust politicians to represent the best interest of their constituents, nor the best interest of the foundation upon which these United States have been built. And that is why we, the citizens, elect to resist the unknown that is inherent in change, and we choose to put our faith in the status quo.
Richard Westhouse
Montgomery

