The three mayors are missing the point

By: centraljersey.com
Mayors Paul Anzano (Hopewell Borough), Jim Burd (Hopewell Township) and Tony Persichilli (Pennington Borough) missed the point of my Jan. 6 Guest Opinion, "It’s time to get serious about consolidation in Hopewell Valley."
The three mayors co-authored a Guest Opinion in the Jan. 20 HVN, "Valley mayors want a consolidation discussion," to:
– Tout the terrific job they say they have done to keep property taxes under control (but somehow the Hopewell Township Committee recently discussed the largest municipal property tax rate hike in a decade).
– Complain about state mandates that make their jobs difficult, mandates that are, and have been, a fact of life for years.
– Boast about the "shared" services provided by our regional (consolidated) school district, for which the mayors have no responsibility or jurisdiction.
– Grumble about the "inherent pitfalls" of consolidation, calling for "exhaustive research" and failing to acknowledge what they learned at the Hopewell Valley League of Voters Forum on Consolidation just a year ago (go to the homepage of www.hopewelltwp.org to view the presentation).
– Dismiss polling results that consistently show an increasing majority (3-1) of public support in New Jersey for "merging local governments and school districts to reduce property taxes." (Quinnipiac University Polling Institute).
– Commit themselves (again) to a public "discussion" on consolidation, glossing over commitments they failed to keep in the last year.
The three mayors wrote that they consider my recommendation to identify potential spending reductions by comparing the budgets of the three Hopewell Valley towns "narrow," when in fact it is spending that determines the tax rate. Their dismissal of this idea is worrying, especially as the governing bodies of all three towns adopted resolutions in 2010 that specifically committed them to develop a joint budget for just this purpose.
The Hopewell Township Committee brought up the consolidation resolution (#10-106), learned from their CFO that budget numbers for the consolidation comparison could be provided by internal staff (no expensive outside "exhaustive research" required), and adopted it on a vote of 5-0.
Someone on the Pennington Borough Council reportedly asked "shouldn’t we be doing this anyway?" And members laughed when they voted to adopt a nearly identical resolution.
Hopewell Borough Council also adopted a consolidation comparison resolution, but instead of carrying it out, held a public meeting on Mayor Anzano’s quixotic proposal to decertify his town and reorganize as a not-for-profit entity.
These commitments to analyze consolidation, although formally endorsed by majority votes of our elected officials in all three towns, were not kept.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than three times as many people employed by local than state government in New Jersey, and, of course, local government depends primarily on property taxes. Hopewell Valley voters should expect their elected leaders to understand that duplication and overlap of local services costs property taxpayers money.
No one, including the three mayors, knows how much more we pay in Hopewell Valley because we have two police departments, three departments of public works, dozens of extra staff positions, duplicate vehicles and equipment, and redundant public buildings.
Municipal consolidation in Hopewell Valley may or may not save taxpayers any money. But is there any excuse for our mayors failing to find out if it could?
David Sandahl is a former deputy mayor of Hopewell Township and a member of the New Jersey Accountability Task Force.