Robert Kecskes
CFTC chairman
Hopewell Township
In a move that we, the Citizens For Tax Choice (CFTC), call blatant political retaliation, the Hopewell Township Committee abruptly suspended all work on the Marshall’s Corner/Pennytown redevelopment project, only weeks after the ambitious housing and retail project won the 2011 Distinguished Civic Leadership and Community Education Award from the New Jersey chapter of the American Planning Association.
Why stop progress on the Pennytown affordable housing project just because another site’s sewering is in question? I’ll tell you why. On Dec. 19, our grass roots citizens group submitted 1,700 signatures from registered voters to the township clerk, far exceeding its obligation of 667 signatures required to ensure that a new bond — recently approved by the majority of the Township Committee — is put before voters in a municipal referendum. The just-approved $4.1 million bond ordinance is to pay for 267,000 gallons of daily sewage treatment capacity from the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority (ELSA) for the area around Pennington Circle. Assuming enough signatures on the petition meet official standards, the bond will be put to a referendum. If the majority of township residents subsequently vote against it, the ordinance would be repealed.
This was a cooked-up move to try to make those who signed the ELSA Petition — one tenth of the township population — look like obstructionists regarding affordable housing. Our petition doesn’t even speak to the issue of affordable housing, but since some of the ELSA capacity may be allocated to affordable housing, they’ve turned it into a political football.
The ELSA referendum petition does not ask signers to address the merits of extending sewers, or affordable housing, or the health and welfare of Hopewell Township’s citizens. It’s designed to give voters an opportunity to choose how their tax dollars are being spent by putting the bond to an up-or-down vote. Another reason citizens are upset (according to CFTC member Harvey Lester), is because the majority on the Township Committee first assured citizens that users would be responsible for the cost of the extra sewerage capacity. Then, without warning, they made it a general taxpayer obligation.
If the Township Committee majority argues that this makes our affordable housing plan moot – which, of course, is completely illogical – then why haven’t they stopped all the affordable housing efforts, not just the flagship initiative which just won a planning award? The answer is simple. The Marshall’s Corner/Pennytown project was spearheaded by those who support Citizens for Tax Choice, like committeewoman and former mayor, Vanessa Sandom — folks who believe in giving the citizens of this township a say in how their taxes are spent. This is what worries them. They have a tax revolt on their hands, and they’re punishing this citizen’s group by trying to paint us with the affordable housing brush. It’s political retribution at its worst.
Now that the referendum looks imminent, proponents claim it will give taxpayers the time they need to fully understand this complex issue. Taxpayers have a right to understand what they’re on the hook for financially, if all this extra sewerage is really needed, and at what capacity. As a result of our initiative, the facts can be analyzed and debated openly, folks can make an informed decision, and they can express it in the privacy of the voting booth. This kind of taxpayer empowerment is what scares the current powerbrokers on the Township Committee. And it looks like they’re even willing to put Hopewell Township’s affordable housing plan on the chopping block to prevent it.
For more information, visit ELSAPetition.org.
