Raising parking fees in Princeton Borough

Councilman Kevin Wilkes of Princeton Borough
   It pains us on Borough Council to have to balance the budget of Princeton Borough by extending metered parking rates to Sunday in the CBD. We wish that we had some other options.
   We could vote to raise the property taxes on all property owners in the Borough — or at least those who actually have to pay their taxes — but there is a structural unfairness to that calculation. Over 50 percent of borough properties are held by non-profit institutions that are not required to pay property tax. So that leaves the lesser half to pay for the operating costs of the entire community. And this burden on the shoulders of those remaining taxpayers is increasing.
   An example of this trend: last year Princeton University renovated the former Springdale Golf Course Clubhouse into offices for the food services staff. This year they removed the building from the borough’s tax roles. This process netted the managers of the university’s dining halls posh offices with a golf course view but it cost borough taxpayers almost $37,000 in annual property tax revenue. The future undoubtedly holds for more of the same.
   So, I supported extending parking meters to the CBD on Sundays and raising our garage rates on Sundays, instead of raising property taxes. But at the same time I know this action hurts the most precious resource of Princeton’s downtown: our retail merchants and our restaurants and bars. It is not fair to them; it can only be defended as sharing the financial pain in which we all find ourselves at this moment.
   There is much talk about consolidation, but what we need more, even more urgently, is to form a constructive partnership with the three ‘governments’ of our community working together in harmony. Yes, Princeton University is our third government. It must be actively engaged in new partnership structures that allow it to invest with us in planning, building and managing the future of our wonderful town.
   Right now, my alma mater needs to do more, much more, to participate financially in the downtown, in the well-being of the merchants and in the well-being of the citizens of Princeton Borough.
   I invite the merchants to join with the property owners of the downtown and with all of the townspeople who care about tax fairness and come to the Suzanne Patterson Center, this coming Sunday, April 26, at 4 p.m. Please come and participate in a conversation about tax equity and listen to our call for a new equilibrium in Princeton.
Kevin Wilkes, member,
Princeton Borough Council