By Lauren Otis
PRINCETON — Assured by a state official of the flexibility built into new consolidation statutes, Princeton Borough and Township officials and residents Monday night voiced support for studying the potential of a municipal merger.
”The law is intended to provide flexibility to local governments to meet their needs,” said Mark Pfeiffer, deputy director of the New Jersey Division of Local Government Services in a lengthy presentation to the Princeton Township Committee and Princeton Borough Council. The joint meeting at Township Hall, drew a stand-room-only crowd.
”You can start the process when you want. You want more time for citizen participation you can make more time for that. You want more time for study you can make more time for study,” Mr. Pfeiffer said, explaining the Local Option Municipal Consolidation Act of 2007.
”We encourage you to take one step at a time, reach conclusions, then move on to the next step,” Mr. Pfeiffer said. “Don’t jump to conclusions or make assumptions about what consolidation might or might not mean.”
Calling that “good advi ce,” Borough Councilman David Goldfarb, a past opponent of full municipal consolidation, said, “We should move ahead very carefully, make sure we are all on the same page before we move on to the next step, and don’t make any assumptions.”
Mr. Goldfarb said, “I think we can go forward with the next two or three steps without throwing the c-word in front of everybody and getting an uproar and having everybody taking sides.”
Township Committeeman Chad Goerner, a proponent of full municipal consolidation, said, “I think it is really important that we examine the comments and concerns of those on both sides of the issue. Consolidation is the way forward for us to make better revenue decisions going forward.”
There are those who are passionate on both sides of the issue whose opinions must be considered, said Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman, a past opponent of full consolidation. “So if we all just keep an open mind…while getting the facts, remember the facts, I think we are going to be OK,” she said.
To offer better municipal services at a lower cost “it is axiomatic that you go to where the costs are” — the two police departments, public works offices and administrations of both Princetons, said Township Mayor Bernie Miller, a proponent of full consolidation. “If we are going to save money we have to attack those major cost centers and work together,” he said.
”Consolidation of municipalities here in Princeton would make good sense,” said Stanley Smoyer, who said that as a 55 year Princeton resident (who now lives in Plainsboro) he had witnessed numerous failed consolidation efforts over the years.
Mr. Pfeiffer, a former borough resident who served on the 1995-1996 Princeton Consolidation Study Commission, said the law had been updated in part to address sticking points which arose out of the ultimately unsuccessful merger attempt by the Princetons at that time.
”I would suggest to you based on my own experience there are not a lot of assumptions you can make up front,” Mr. Pfeiffer said. He did note that based on the 1995 Princeton study commission report, in both Princeton Borough and Township “that everybody was pretty much going to break even” under consolidation.
Cost savings were only part of the reason for consolidating, Mr. Pfeiffer said, with greater municipal efficiencies, and the offering of more and better services other important motives.
Mr. Pfeiffer said the next step Princeton should take towards consolidation would be to begin to formally consider what its community needs are for municipal government services, then work together with assistance from the state on a consensus for going forward.
A study commission is created and consolidation plan is worked out by municipalities with help from his agency, presented for approval to the local finance board, then the study is implemented, Mr. Pfeiffer said. Residents, through a petition of representative voters, can also present a consolidation plan, he said. A state consolidation fund currently has $7 million set aside to provide grant aid to municipalities as they study and execute consolidation, he said.
The consolidation commission under the new law can choose how and what to study and can hire an outside, professional consultant or community members, he said.
Among the new features of the 2007 consolidation law were provisions allowing for the retention of some autonomy and regional planning capability in distinctive neighborhoods through “advisory planning districts;” addressing disparities in debt load between municipalities; allowing some ordinances to continue to vary along old boundaries in combined municipalities; as well as preparing for the likelihood that taxes in one municipality would increase after consolidation, Mr. Pfeiffer said.
”If we have this part of town that is special we can create a planning district there,” whereby a special oversight board will oversee the area, keeping commercial or other districts healthy, Mr. Pfeiffer said. “We see that process very tailored to individual circumstances,” he said.
Pre-consolidation municipal debt can be apportioned so each municipality shares debt going forward after consolidation but pays its own pre-consolidation debt load, Mr. Pfeiffer said. If two municipalities had varying ordinances they wanted to retain — “I can hypothesize leash laws for example” — those could continue going forward, defined by the old municipal boundaries, he said.
”In most cases in a consolidation taxes in one municipality would go up,” he said.
Under the new law an annual state tax credit would be given to residential property owners whose taxes increase following consolidation, in the amount of the increase, Mr. Pfeiffer said. The credit would apply until the property was sold to a new owner, he said.
Mr. Goerner cited the benefits that the provision for advisory planning districts could have for the central business district in downtown Princeton Borough, saying that it would allow for special attention to the area. Some borough officials and residents have raised concerns over the possible loss of focus on downtown concerns in a consolidated Princeton.
In addressing shared services, Mr. Pfeiffer said the 2007 law included state aid for feasibility studies, and new incentives and payments — such as terminal leave payments and early retirement incentives — to enable governments to enact shared services agreements efficiently. Additionally, to improve public participation, “the law allows for voter approval of a shared service agreement,” he said.
Mr. Pfeiffer noted that Princeton Borough and Township share “13 or so” services. He said there was a hurdle to sharing police services — one of the larger areas where the Princetons do not share services — by abolishing one department, because of seniority, pension and tenure rights for law enforcement personnel that are guaranteed under union contracts. “We are reasonably certain abolishing the department doesn’t make that issue go away,” he said.
In response to a call by Councilman Roger Martindell for the combining of the borough and township municipal courts in a shared services agreement, Mr. Pfeiffer said “shared courts is one of the more popular shared services.”
Over a dozen audience members lined up with questions on the subject, ranging from whether Princeton citizens could bypass elected officials in seeking a referendum on consolidation, to whether Princeton elected officials could bypass their citizens and move ahead on consolidation without a final vote on the matter. Mr. Pfeiffer responded in the affirmative to the first query, but noted that the second situation, raised by borough resident Phyllis Teitelbaum, could occur only “in a alternate universe.” Elected officials at the podium assured Ms. Teitelbaum they would never do such a thing.
In response to a question by borough resident Ron Nielson, Mr. Pfeiffer said shared services agreements had more flexibility after the fact because they are reversible but municipal consolidation is not.
Former Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand whether meeting COAH affordable housing obligations would be complicated or suspended under a consolidation process. Mr. Pfeiffer said COAH has indicated that it simply adds the former municipalities’ obligations in tallying the COAH obligations of the new consolidated entity.
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