Ray Cattonar’s recent letter to the editor (“One Suggestion to Deal With Town’s Finances,” Tri-Town News, Nov. 23) suggesting that Jackson Township declare bankruptcy represents a reckless and fiscally irresponsible approach to balancing the municipal budget.
The mere suggestion that Jackson look into bankruptcy is a proposition unsupported by any fiscal analysis. While Jackson faces the same pressures of a stale economy and an over-reliance on residential property taxes as every other town in the state, the township must balance its budget without resorting to nuclear decimation of our finances and our reputation. Mr. Cattonar’s suggestion would cause more damage to Jackson than good. It would scare off potential investors we need to build sustainable commercial ratables. It would make it more costly for the town to borrow money in the future.
Bankruptcy would lower property values further by establishing Jackson as a “distressed city” like Camden or Irvington.
Even Mr. Cattonar’s suggestion that bankruptcy be used to tear up employee contracts is not a settled legal question.
An attorney for the state League of Municipalities wrote in the league’s magazine last month that this idea was “unclear” and the leverage of bankruptcy may not exist in dealing with union agreements.
Mr. Cattonar’s suggestion ignores the reality that most of our taxes go to services other than those offered by the township. We must work together realistically by tightening our belts at every level of government and by promoting Jackson as a target for economic growth if we are to stabilize taxes.
Bankruptcy, even as a matter of discussion, is not a solution for moving forward as a community.
Rob Nixon Jackson