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ROBBINSVILLE: Taxes, ratables center stage in council race

One Township Council seat on the ballot Nov. 6

By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
   ROBBINSVILLE — Taxes and economic development have emerged as the key issues in the thus far low-key campaigns of the two men seeking to fill an unexpired term on the Robbinsville Township Council on Nov. 6.
   Dennis B. Shennard II, who was appointed to the Township Council on a interim basis last summer to fill a vacancy, is being challenged by Dave Boyne, a former two-term councilman who lost his council seat by 26 votes in 2011.
   Mr. Shennard, of Voelbel Road, is the former chairman of the zoning board and the CEO of a Robbinsville-based landscaping construction business. Mr. Boyne, of Barto Way, served on the council from 2006-2011, including a term as council president, and is the CFO of a national trucking delivery company.
   The two candidates are vying for one three-year unexpired term that became available when Councilman Rich Levesque resigned last summer. The four remaining council members unanimously chose Mr. Shennard in August to take the seat temporarily until voters could choose Mr. Levesque’s successor Nov. 6.
   Robbinsville municipal elections are nonpartisan, meaning candidates run without Democrat or Republican party labels. Mr. Boyne is running in Column K under the slogan “Truth and Accountability for Robbinsville,” and Mr. Shennard is in Column L running under the slogan “Acting Today for a Better Tomorrow.”
   Although the election is nonpartisan, both candidates are registered Republicans and, in separate interviews, both said they thought the most important issues facing the township were the need to hold down property taxes and attract more business ratables to town to ease the property tax burden on homeowners.
   ”I’m running to try and stabilize taxes in this town,” Mr. Shennard said Sunday. “I’ve been a resident of town 15 years and my taxes have more than tripled in the past 10 years. I love this township… but if it continues this way I’m sure me and everyone else is going to be moving out.”
   Mr. Shennard said the solution is “smart economic growth.” The township needs to do more to “utilize the properties that we have to try to get the most commercial ratables that we can to try to stabilize taxes.”
   Mr. Boyne also views taxes as the key issue.
   ”Without commercial development, it is very difficult to do much about taxes,” Mr. Boyne said Sunday. “You have two choices: cutting spending or raising revenue, and the revenue side of the equation is the development of commercial ratables, whether it be in the warehouse park, Route 130 or in Town Center South.”
   Mr. Boyne also said it was critical that the town proceeds quickly with the redevelopment of Town Center South, 90 acres of mostly vacant land on the south side of Route 33. The township owns 52 acres in Town Center South, including the 40-acre Kushner tract that it purchased in 2007 for $12 million.
   ”It’s a very expensive piece of property and we need recoup our $12 million investment,” Mr. Boyne said.
   In addition to sharing the same view on the issue of commercial ratables, both candidates agreed on another issue, albeit one outside the council’s control, that will also impact property taxes: the $18.9 million school expansion referendum to solve overcrowding in grades K-8.
   If voters approve the borrowing on Dec.11, the school district will be able to add 29 classrooms, a gym at the elementary school and more cafeteria space at both the middle and elementary schools, which are 332 students over their intended capacity. The projected tax impact is $200 a year for a home assessed at $400,000 if the referendum passes.
   Both Mr. Shennard and Mr. Boyne say they support the referendum.
   ”The schools are important to the town in terms of holding our property values,” Mr. Shennard said. “If we let our school system slip the values of our homes will slip also.”
   Mr. Boyne also said the referendum is necessary and noted that the current practice of using portable classroom trailers at the elementary school siphons dollars away from academic programs.
   ”Trailers must be funded through operating expenses and operating expenses are subject to the 2 percent cap,” Mr. Boyne said. Capital expenditures for the construction of new classrooms, however, are outside the 2 percent cap. Therefore, building new classrooms doesn’t diver money from the operating budget for education as leasing trailers does, he said.
   In an election where there are few differences on the issues, both candidates have sought to emphasize their professional backgrounds and personal qualifications for the public office they are seeking.
   ”I think it’s important that someone get on the council that has some finance background, because nobody up there does,” said Mr. Boyne, who was known to tangle with township officials over budget numbers when he served on the council.
   ”It’s important to get someone on the council that is willing to stand up to the mayor, both publicly and privately,” Mr. Boyne said. “I’ll fight for the residents.”
   Mr. Shennard, who attended zoning board meetings in a wheelchair for four months in 2011 after being seriously hurt in a fall, emphasizes his dedication, saying when he commits to doing something he follows through and gets results.
   ”I’m a small business owner in this township with a lot of drive to help work toward smart growth for this town,” Mr. Shennard said.
   Mr. Shennard picked up the endorsement last week of the four Township Council members, who said he had become a valuable addition in his short time on the governing body.
   Council President Ron Witt, who defeated Mr. Boyne in the May 2011 election, said Mr. Shennard had brought a “renewed sense of teamwork” to the council.
   ”This is precisely the type of approach we need to maintain on council in order to continue moving Robbinsville productively forward,” Mr. Witt said.
   Mr. Boyne said he was not concerned that council members, three of whom had been his colleagues during his prior terms, had endorsed Mr. Shennard.
   ”They picked him for the vacancy, so it’s not unexpected that they would endorse him,” Mr. Boyne said.
   Mr. Boyne dismissed the endorsement’s significance, saying it was more important to have an independent person on the council than four people whose views are in lockstep.