LAWRENCE: Ewing mayor unhappy over building purchase

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Unhappy with Lawrence Township school officials’ plan to buy a warehouse in Ewing Township, which would remove it from the tax rolls, Ewing Township Mayor Bert Steinmann made his displeasure clear at the Township Council meeting last week.
   The Lawrence Township Board of Education is buying the property on Spruce Street for $875,000 to use as a maintenance facility. The school district has been renting space in Ewing for the past six years at a cost of $80,000 annually while officials searched for a suitable property to purchase.
   Mayor Steinmann wrote to school board president Laura Waters to express his displeasure and she also appeared before the council at its March 20 meeting.
   At the council meeting, Mayor Steinmann acknowledged that while it is not under the council’s control, the school district’s purchase of the warehouse building means Ewing Township will lose $58,000 in property tax revenue.
   ”This is unacceptable only because the taxpayers of Ewing Township should not be obligated to support the Lawrence Township Board of Education,” Mayor Steinmann said.
   About 42 percent of the properties in Ewing Township are tax exempt because they belong to state government or other nonprofit organizations, the mayor said.
   Mayor Steinmann said he thinks that every local government and board of education has a moral obligation to stay in its borders and not burden other towns.
   He said he has reached out to state legislators to ask for legislation that would require any municipality or school board that purchases properties outside its borders to pay the full property tax to that municipality.
   Councilman Greg Puliti agreed that the Legislature should look at all nonprofit groups and approve legislation that would require them to pay property taxes. The properties owned by nonprofit groups are tax exempt.
   Meanwhile, Mayor Steinmann wrote to Ms. Waters earlier in the month. In his March 12 letter, he said, “In these difficult economic times, the citizens of Ewing and not the citizens of Lawrence will be subsidizing the functions of the Lawrence Township Board of Education. Instead of shifting this financial burden to its neighbors, I implore the board to refocus its search for suitable properties within Lawrence Township.”
   Ms. Waters responded that during the past six years, the school district has worked diligently to find an appropriate property in Lawrence, but was forced to look elsewhere, she wrote March 20.
   Ms. Waters said she was sympathetic, but “as you know, we have (similar) issues.”
   She offered to discuss opportunities for shared services or other arrangements.