The voters in Jackson have the power of initiative and referendum. Initiative is the power enabling the voters to propose ordinances by petitioning their governing body and to enact them by a referendum vote if the governing body declines to act.
Referendum is the power enabling the voters to veto the implementation of ordinances that have been enacted by the governing body.
Some individuals have discussed a voter initiative for consolidation of the legal counsels for the township and the Jackson School District. I believe this is inappropriate and the wrong focus.
There are two other issues that could result in greater savings to the taxpayers, but our elected officials have failed to demonstrate the courage to initiate the appropriate studies to analyze and review the underlying issues and potential solutions. Instead they choose to ignore the issue and reject the call for analysis based on political rhetoric.
The Jackson Township Municipal Utilities Authority (JTMUA) should be merged into the township. There is no meaningful reason for it to be an independent entity with its own duplicate infrastructure of administrators, accountants and consultants. The JTMUA is run by a board of commissioners who have historically been chosen not based on their professional or business expertise, but on their political affiliation and who they know. It is time to create a truly independent review committee, by initiative if necessary, to review this question and to report back to the public.
Jackson has four fire districts. Each fire district has its own legal counsel, accountants, fire commissioners and other duplicate staff positions. I have been told by a fire commissioner that three of the fire districts are willing to consolidate, but there is still one holdout. It is also time to create a truly independent review committee, by initiative if necessary, to review this question and to report back to the public.
Furthermore, if we have three fire districts willing to consolidate and save the taxpayers money, let us consolidate the three districts and move on.
If we are going to invest the time and money for initiative and referendum, let’s focus on the big picture and eliminate the truly redundant expenses that drive up our taxes.
Paul Mayerowitz
Jackson