Kevin D. Kuchinski, Pennington
Taxes in Hopewell Township are too high, forcing longtime residents to move in search of more affordable options.
This year, the joy of seeing my second son graduate from Hopewell Valley Central High was tempered by the sadness of seeing family after family announce they would be leaving Hopewell Valley as their youngest had just finished school.
It shouldn’t be this way. We need to stop the out-of-control spiral of municipal spending.
In May, I voted against the +9 percent net spending increase championed by Mayor Harvey Lester, but, collectively, we need to do more.
First and most importantly, we need to stop taking on ever-increasing debt. Hopewell Township currently carries $55.2 million in net debt, resulting in annual payments that drive 19.2 percent of total township spending.
Amazingly, we pay interest on debt ordinances from 5+ years ago, yet we have not fully expended the authorized monies.
I will stop this practice and also start reducing debt by working to sell off land like Pennytown that is not needed to meet the township’s affordable housing obligations. This latter step would cut spending by over $400,000 per year, equivalent to a 3 percent decline in township taxes.
Second, we need to re-examine each line item of our budget and make common-sense choices. Lester claims that “discretionary” spending is only 3.97 percent of the budget and that he can’t make further cuts, ignoring the other 95 percent+ of township spending.
We will never make progress if we do not challenge this so-called “fixed” spending and look for opportunities to deliver municipal services more efficiently. My goal is to bring spending increases down to +1 percent or less per year.
Finally, we must reduce our reliance on residential property taxes by finding new sources of revenue.
Our Finance Advisory Council recently looked at Board of Health fees. On one line item, our current fee is 60 percent lower than Princeton’s, yet 98 percent of 2014 charges were paid by nonresidents. Adjusting this fee would generate $60,000 in new revenues, paid almost exclusively by people outside the township.
We face serious financial issues and will not be able to right the ship overnight. However, with new thinking and responsible leadership, we can reduce taxes and make Hopewell Township a more affordable place to call home.
(My views are personal, not an official committee statement.)
Kevin D. Kuchinski
Pennington
