Sonja Walter, of Robbinsville
Now that the municipal elections are over, and the primaries have come and gone, the Robbinsville Township Council has decided to increase our sewer rates by over 40%. This increase comes on the heels of last year’s 30% municipal tax increase.
In the sewer utility budget adopted by Council, a vast majority of surplus was used to fill the hole created by ever increasing operating expenses. Since the elections are safely aside, Council has decided to replenish the frighteningly small budgetary surplus by increasing our rates by over 40%. Does this sound familiar? It should. It is exactly what the Council did in 2009 when the budget increase prior to the election was only one cent, and after the election, it was four cents.
Mayor Fried keeps insisting that we need to stop using surplus in the budget to cover our continuing expenditures. I am not arguing that point. However, the surplus should not be used as a way for our elected officials to pad the budget at their discretion in order to mislead the voters as to the town’s fiscal health. The taxpayers and ratepayers of Robbinsville should be told the truth about the budgets and not have to wait until the elected officials are tucked safely away in their respective cocoons of election night victory before being told “thanks for your support and, oh, by the way, I am raising your taxes.”
