Murray S. Peyton, Pennington
Whenever I drive on Park Avenue and King George Street in Pennington, it’s always a washboard experience even as I stay at the posted 25 mph speed. It’s been that way for the past several years.
I checked out other Pennington streets in July and found several in need of repair. Queried the borough office and found nothing in the buidget this year for street maintenance.
So I wrote the Borough Council and informed it of my survey and personal experience. I complimented the council on its ongoing efforts to keep the borough tax increases low and sometimes even at zero. However, I suggested that the quality of life for the residents whom they represent should also be considered in the annual budget.
Presently, the quality of life here in Pennington is diminished by those neglected streets. One resident I know who travels these roads regularly, of necessity, recently has spent several hundred dollars in auto repairs for damage directly attributable to these conditions. In my letter I had encouraged the council to develop a five-year or longer road maintenance plan and to fund it annually both with anticipated state grant funds and local tax revenue, even if it meant adding a penny or two to the borough rate.
In response the council said its policy would “continue to be utilizing state Department of Transportation funding only for its annual road reconstruction program. Borough funding may be applied to the extent emergency repairs are necessary.”
I was also informed that the borough has a priority plan, and one road in the borough is funded each year by anticipated DOT funds. Funding was secured for Fiscal Year 2014 for lower King George Road and in FY 2015 for Park Avenue, but the council has deferred these projects until 2016 in anticipation of another grant, from the New Jersey Environmental Trust, to fund necessary water line upgrades under those roads. I think that the 2014 reference was for Upper King George since the lower King George road resurfacing is complete.
What the council is doing by declining to apply any local tax revenue to street maintenance is akin to its residents or school authorities deferring essential maintenance on property they own or in which they have a stake. No local taxes are to be raised for road maintenance is the council policy. I strongly disagree. The Pennington Borough Council has the responsibility to its residents, one way or another, to insure adequate funding annually for its infrastructure maintenance. It is a a quality of life issue.
Pennington taxpayers, I encourage you to take a drive down Park Avenue, and when your teeth settle back into your mouth, please let your Pennington council know your sentiments.
Murray S. Peyton
Pennington
