To the editor:
Did you hear the one about the deputy mayor who denied taking much-needed funding from the schools, even though she previously voted to shift school-entitled revenue from our schools to the township?
This occurred when she voted in favor of the Zaitz Tract property tax reduction to multi-billion (that’s with a “B”) dollar corporate real estate developer U.S. Homes.
If you had attended the Hopewell Township Committee meeting on Aug. 27, you would have heard Deputy Mayor Julie Blake claim she “wouldn’t take money from our students,” even though her vote during the previous committee meeting to approve a property tax abatement results in taking lots of money from our students.
Deputy Mayor Blake was not alone in hijacking school-entitled revenue. She was joined by her fellow Democrats, Mayor Kevin Kuchinski and committee members Kristin McLaughlin and Michael Ruger. Only Republican John Hart voted to allow the schools their full funding.
How much school-entitled revenue did Deputy Mayor Blake and her Democrat-colleagues deprive from the schools? More than $56 million over 30 years.
Let’s do the math. Each tax dollar is divided among different taxing entities. Schools receive approximately 60 percent of each tax dollar and the township receives approximately 13 percent. The county, fire district and open space also receive a share.
According to New Jersey State Comptroller A. Matthew Boxer in his 2010 report on municipal tax abatements, the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) enables the township to transform its 13 percent share of those property taxes into a 95 percent share, with 5 percent for the county and nothing for the school district.
Since the township will be receiving $93.5 million more than its standard entitlement over the next 30 years, the schools are being deprived of $56.1 million (93.5 x 60 percent). And that’s no laughing matter.
Harvey Lester
Titusville