To the Editor: Open Space Spending Questioned##M:[more]##
I view the proposed open space resolution, to be the subject of the West Windsor Council meeting on Monday, July 17, as if I were given $1,”000 per year to improve my house, I would be diligent on how I would spend the money. I would make a list: short and long-term needs. A leaking roof or old furnace would be important. However, if I were given $2,”500 per year, now we are talking! I would fix the roof and replace the furnace, but I would buy tablecloths and paint the garage floor, not necessary, but something my husband would like. At either spending limit, I would spend every penny and wait at the mailbox for next year’s check.
The township administration has failed to develop individual parcel plans (IPPs) for using the funds collected under the current 10 percent development and maintenance cap of the open space fund. There are neither short nor long-term strategic plans for the use of this money. This administration has spent open space money on various expense items and on properties that were not acquired by the open space fund. If the township does not have detailed plans at the 10 percent spending cap, what makes one think the administration will be prepared when it is handed 15 percentage points more money in November?
This is the time to be financially frugal. Friends of West Windsor Open Space (FOWWOS) supports an overall reduction of the open space tax from 5 to 3 cents per $100 of assessed property value, since this new level is similar in revenue production to that which was supported by the citizens. However, we oppose any increase in the development and maintenance cap beyond that which was contained in the two previous referendums, namely 10 percent.
FOWWOS supports the current 10 percent cap for three reasons; an increase in the development and maintenance cap is a fundamental shift away from the 1998 and 2005 referendums, which an overwhelming majority of voters approved; even with a 3 cents tax rate, the township will lose funding revenue in comparison to the 1998 level and with 15 percentage points less toward the acquisition of open space, the budget gap only increases, and there are no IPPs, which would define how money is needed.
FOWWOS calculations show that over 99 percent of the already acquired open space has neither development nor maintenance needs. Before the cap is increased under some future referendum, the administration should conduct an analysis of how much overall development and maintenance money is actually needed and should author, under full public participation, IPPs for each and every open space parcel.
Of course, there will be future development and maintenance needs discussed in the IPPs, but beyond the anticipated Duck Pond Park, the township is not clear what needs there will be, but they want the money now.
Helen Rancan
President, Friends of West Windsor Open Space
11 Huntly Drive, West Windsor
Open Space tax rates just don’t add up
With her letter to the editor, Councilwoman Barbara Pfeifer did a great service to the residents, voters, and taxpayers in West Windsor Township. She alerted us to a public hearing on taxes at the upcoming July 17 Township Council meeting and encouraged residents to attend. Try to think when a member of our township government last did this. Hopefully it will set a precedent that will be expanded to include more timely informative postings on the township website. However, as with this letter, residents need to hear the rest of the story, not just the party line.
The long and the short of it is that lowering the open-space tax rate from 5 cents per $100 of property valuation we will be paying in 2006 to the proposed 3 cents for 2007 actually means that our total township taxes (not the rate) for tax year 2006 will be increasing 16 percent, not the 8 percent that is generally assumed. Though the legitimate ongoing open-space tax rate is 3 cents, the 2007 rate should be 1 cent in order to return to taxpayers the 2 cents we are being overtaxed in 2006. If the proposed 3-cent rate does go into effect for 2007, it means the township just keeps the $100 to $200 we are being overcharged this year.
In 1998 West Windsor Township voters approved a 5-cent increase in the township open-space tax rate, from 2 cents per $100 of property valuation to 7 cents. Applying that 7-cent rate to the 2005 (before revaluation) total township real property valuation of $2.65 billion shows that about $1.86 million of open-space taxes were raised in tax year 2005. That is about what would have been collected in 2006 if there had been no revaluation.
Since revaluation is not supposed to be used to increase the tax take, the amount collected in 2006 after the revaluation should have still been about $1.86 million. Dividing that amount by the 2006 (after revaluation) total township real property valuation of $6.3 billion shows that an open-space tax rate of 3 cents per $100 of property valuation would have generated the previously expected proceeds in 2006, and will in future years.
Why was a 5-cent rate, which it turns out will raise about $3.1 million in 2006, put on the ballot last November? Why was that ballot question worded so that voters either voted for the 5-cent rate, or the old 7-cent rate would have stayed in effect and been applied to the new valuations? Will the question for 2007 be put on the ballot in such a form that voters will have to vote for the 3-cent rate or it will automatically revert to this year’s 5-cent rate or even the old 7-cent rate? Will we ever get back our 2-cent 2006 overcharge?
A good place to start trying to get answers is the July 17 Township Council Meeting. So I, like Ms. Pfeifer, encourage all West Windsor Township residents who care about the taxes they pay to attend this meeting.
Bob Akens
Windsor Drive, West Windsor
The Case for Hindi
Neal Phenes wrote in a July 7 letter to the editor that the West-Windsor Plainsboro Board of Education should not add Hindi to the curriculum because it would raise costs. He said that the need for such an addition “”must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt”” and that “”core subjects already being taught must be the focus of our schools.””
My family, friends, and neighbors in Plainsboro disagree. My family includes members fluent in English, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Fujienese, and Hindi. A primary reason for living in Plainsboro is the commitment by both the schools and the library to promote cultural and linguistic competency in Plainsboro’s children, adolescents, and adults through various programs and educational opportunities, including the World Languages curriculum.
A better method of determining curriculum is what benefits the educational future of our children and adolescents. The educational research is clear that languages are best learned at young ages. There is no evidence that WW-P will need to take away any course offerings to add Hindi and current staff may be able to teach courses without additional funding. With the U.S. plunged into yet another costly and ill-conceived set of wars abroad, maybe the wisest use of our local, state, and national tax dollars is to increase teaching multiple world languages for the next generation, an important route to understand and appreciate world cultures.
If the U.S. focused more on funding learning about and appreciating cultural and linguistic difference rather than funding war-making, we as a nation would be more cost-effective in both tax dollars saved and body bags unused.
Stuart Chen-Hayes
Plainsboro
Associate Professor of Education, City University of New York/Lehman College
Health Alerts: West Nile & Lyme Disease
The West Windsor Health Department offers this alert to help keep you and your family safe and healthy this summer:
INSECT ALERT! While often just a nuisance, mosquitoes can transmit West Nile virus and ticks can transmit Lyme disease.
Stay indoors at peak mosquito biting times during
the early morning and at dusk. Keep away from places where insects gather — near standing water, flower gardens and in the shade under trees on hot, sunny days. Avoid tick habitats, such as wooded areas with dense shrubs and leaf litter, and “”transition areas”” — places where woods change to shrubs, or where low brush meets suburban yards.
Remove all sources of standing or stagnant water — mosquitoes will breed in any standing water or puddle that lasts more than four days. Dispose of tin cans, plastic containers, ceramic pots and old, unused
tires. Eliminate standing water that collects in wheelbarrows, wading
pools, birdbaths and buckets. Clean out rain gutters.
Cover up with a long sleeve shirt and pants, and use a
DEET-containing insect repellent according to directions to reduce the
chances of getting insect bites. Frequent application or saturation of
skin with repellent increases the risk of adverse reactions and does NOT increase effectiveness.
Check your children’s skin (and your own) daily for ticks when you’ve spent time outside. If you find an attached tick, promptly
remove it with a tweezer — ticks must be attached for at least 24 hours to transmit any disease.
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