Referendum Will Increase Taxes##M:[more]##
As a concerned citizen and a resident of the Village Grande of West Windsor, I must say that I believe that passage of a the school referendum as presented will not only ultimately (notice I say ultimately) raise taxes in West Windsor, but comes at a time when our State is facing hard questions about why the property taxes in New Jersey are higher than any place in the United States.
The fact remains that West Windsor has almost paid off debts related to past financing and we are being asked again to “finance” large debts for the most part, what I and others I have spoken with consider to be a “cosmetic referendum.”
Artificial turf, new bubbles for our swimming pool, extra offices, are not absolutely needed for the health, safety, and quality of education of our students.
West Windsor town fathers also should take heed. As taxes rise in our community, most of the “blame” will be somehow put on the town. In truth, much of a town’s budget comes from school requirements — but when residents get their tax bills, they always blame the town.
Another question that I pose is: Who would administer this budget if it were passed? Who has the expertise to track so many projects, and deal with contractors, bids, and costs? What happens if we are told that the amounts set aside are not enough? This is an accident waiting to happen.
I urge those in West Windsor to vote NO for the School Referendum and then to carefully consider the school budget when it too will be voted upon later on in the year.
The buck has got to start, or stop if you may, somewhere. Most towns in New Jersey are currently and overwhelmingly defeating school budgets, and yes school referendums, because at this point, it is the only way to hold the line on taxes until our state government finds a viable alternative to property taxes and funding education.
It is my opinion that the school system, with the help of their ambassadors, have orchestrated a glitzy performance, one that gives unsuspecting residents a good dose of “guilt and fear,” and one that we will all have to live with for many years to come.
Some schools don’t have enough for books-and yet we are voting on artificial turf? There’s something wrong with this picture.
Freddi Silverman Myers
West Windsor
South’s Turn
Voters in the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District should not miss an opportunity to improve our schools by voting in favor of the referendum on Tuesday, January 24. When High School North was first proposed more than a decade ago, South parents, students and faculty were told that both schools would have equivalent facilities.
The South PTSA has lobbied since 2000 to get the ball rolling. Now it’s 2006, and we finally have a unique opportunity to accomplish this goal. The bonds used to pay for construction of other district schools are being retired, and it will finally be possible to improve our older schools without a tax increase.
High School South truly needs the proposed improvements. Five new enclosed classrooms will be built. Better partitions in open classrooms will enhance the learning experience by reducing noise. Our choirs, bands, and orchestras will be able to practice together, and hold concerts at the school. (Anyone who has tried to sit through a concert, theater performance, or meeting in South’s current auditorium knows that South’s facilities are noisy, uncomfortable, and undersized.) Classrooms will be renovated for fine arts, a new gym built, and other athletic facilities renovated.
My children graduated from South years ago, but I will be going to the polls to support the referendum on January 24. So should you.
Deborah Brett
7 Sherman Court, Plainsboro
Teacher’s View
I am writing this as a mother of two children in the district and also as a teacher. Last spring I worked at High School South as a long-term substitute teacher. I was there for over three months, which allowed me to get a real feel for the school and its needs.
I can confirm the school is in major need of the proposed improvements. I saw talented young musicians practicing in hallways and closets, outdated art rooms, and overcrowded health classes. If we do not vote for the improvements now, I fear that High School South and other schools will continue to have problems for many years to come.
We owe it to both the dedicated teachers and our children to improve our schools. My children will go to High School South, where the majority of the funds will be spent, but this is a vote for the improvement of the school community. We need to improve our schools now to continue the excellent education our children have been receiving.
In addition, because of the timing of this referendum, taxes for school debt service will not increase, as bonds for these projects will be issued as old debt is paid off. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Linda Dean
9 Princeton Place,
Princeton Junction
Schools Support
Property Values
Property taxes are high. This reality was a major focus of last year’s gubernatorial election. However, dissatisfaction with property taxes must not become a convenient dumping ground when it comes to municipal and school politics.
In preparing to vote, it is important that residents not lose sight of the fact the supremacy of the WW-P school system generates great real estate demand from families wishing to move into the district. While property taxes have been inching up, our property values have been soaring, whether one lives in a retirement community or in a family neighborhood. Objectively, the school tax component of our property tax bill is not a tax at all, but an investment.
Nor should potential dissenters obscure the purpose of the referendum. It is not an “arms race” to keep our school facilities in line with those in neighboring towns. Nearly all of the proceeds will make needed changes in order to allow academic, athletic, artistic and musical talents to all flourish equally, without the impediment of unproductive facilities, many of which have gone unchanged for decades.
If there is still a doubt or two, take the time to study the referendum and it will be evident that the school board has addressed these needs responsibly. How responsible one might ask? A yes vote will have no increase in property taxes. That’s right. The referendum’s bond issue will replace one of equal value that is maturing.
A yes vote becomes a no-cost investment. Everyone should be able to get behind a transaction like that.
Kirk Loury
Brians Way, West Windsor
Yes to Question 2
On January 24 the voters in West Windsor and Plainsboro will vote on two questions in the Facilities Referendum presented by the WW-P School District. The first question will authorize the school board to raise about $25 million to upgrade five of the ten district schools, four of which are the oldest in the district.
The second question authorizes additional funding of about $2.3 million to upgrade one field at each high school to a multi-sport synthetic turf field.
Most of the people I have talked to understand the need to fix the older schools as covered by the first question. A few people have asked whether the synthetic turf fields in the second question are truly a need or a want.
I believe passing both questions is necessary to maintain the excellence of our school district. The synthetic turf fields offer both high schools several advantages including all-weather playability, low maintenance, and unlimited playing time.
The synthetic turf fields being proposed are significantly different from the old Astroturf. The new generation synthetic turf fields being considered consist of a surface of silky grass-like strands surrounded by “synthetic earth” created with rounded granules of sand and rubber. The result is a uniform, level, and cushioned surface emulating natural grass fields in excellent condition, which could possibly reduce injuries.
The current grass fields are very difficult to maintain because they are constantly being used by students. Student teams use fields from early August and again from early March. As spring and fall are the growing seasons for grass, it makes it very difficult for the grass on these fields to grow, particularly with this degree of use.
Due to limited availability of fields, we cannot rest a field to let the grass grow. The maintenance of the synthetic turf itself is significantly lower. The primary care is raking it by machine to keep the surface level.
Due to its durability, synthetic turf will allow the field to be used for physical education classes through the day and then for sports such as soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey, as well as football.
It is expected that the marching band will even use the fields. The new field will provide three stations for the physical education classes. Due to limited availability of PE stations, the current class size in PE and health classes is very large. In addition, this type of field drains very efficiently and can generally be used about 15 minutes after it rains.
The fields are an additional community resource that may be used by groups such as the soccer association and Pop Warner Football.
Several of our neighboring school districts such as Montgomery, Princeton, and Robbinsville have installed such a field, because of the advantages it offers. Given its usage, these fields are truly a need in our district.
Meghana Tawde
2 Penrose Lane, West Windsor
Pirate Pride
There certainly is no lack of Pirate Pride at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South. Since South’s beginning in 1972, the high school has grown tremendously in both size and spirit. Since that time, South is proud of the rich tradition that the students have created on the athletic fields, in the music programs, and in the classroom, However, because of this growth in both spirit and size over the last 34 years, a need has arisen to add onto, update, and improve the school.
What exactly does it mean that Pirate Pride is increasing? It means that an increased student population is participating more than ever in school activities and programs and that the building needs to be updated to reflect this increase.
For example, the orchestra program at South in 1972 began with five string players. At present, the orchestra program has approximately 300 string players and three different ensembles. The building, unfortunately, has not similarly increased in size. The musicians must perform densely packed onto the small stage. Additionally, there are only two tiny practice rooms, and one music room that is always over filled. The referendum calls for a new, greatly needed theater, additional practice rooms, and a new music room that would allow the music program to continue to flourish.
Like the musicians, sports programs suffer from increased growth and lack of available space in the building. (The athletic department has grown even more this year with the addition of a fencing team.) Teams must compete for time to use the one and only gym at South. Whereas High School North currently has two gyms and approximately the same student population, it is logical that South should also have a second gym.
The most important part of the referendum is increased class size. Additional student space and classrooms are to be built if the referendum passes. Music and athletics are important, but the increased number of classrooms would be most beneficial to South.
Though I will not see the effects of these changes for myself if the referendum passes, my own Pirate Pride and love of High School South has compelled me to write on behalf of future Pirates. Pirate Pride is ever increasing and the building should reflect this growth.
Brooke Dearden
8 Howell Court, West Windsor
South Student Council President
South’s Needs
We are at a turning point in our school district’s history. The referendum that will be presented for vote on January 24 is our opportunity to relieve the overcrowding and substandard space that our students currently live with at High School South.
Our building was designed to hold a maximum of 1,”300 students and we are bursting at the seams with over 1,”600 students now, with more to come next year. History is being taught in an area that used to be a hallway, and math is being held in an old storage room. The state has implemented a new requirement for students to study performing arts in order to graduate and yet our orchestra is too large to fit on our auditorium stage. The renovations proposed are not glamorous or state of the art, but they are designed to accommodate our growing student population.
The artificial turf fields proposed for both South and North are to be determined as a second question on the ballot. The opportunity to build these fields and provide better conditions for our physical education classes as well as our sports teams can only be approved if the voters pass the first question on the ballot.
The timing is critical because the debt service that we have been paying for the construction of High School North will reduce this year. We will be able to finance the South construction without incurring additional financing costs. Your taxes will not increase due to this construction, and yet the benefit to our school, our students and ultimately to your housing values will be of terrific value.
If January 24 is a difficult day for you to get out and vote, download an absentee ballot at: www. njelections.org/absentee_doe.html.
If you want to see the proposed design or have questions about the costs, contact the Citizens Referendum Team. The e-mails for that volunteer group are: dhasling@comcast.net, andylupo@comcast.net, tonyfleres@comcast.net and chris.yan@comcast.net.
Dee Harris Ferrante
Barbara Reiff
Co-presidents, South PTSA
Citizens Team View
We formed the Citizens Referendum Team this fall because we feel so strongly about the need for this referendum. For the last few months, we have tried to inform our communities about what the referendum encompasses, how it is that taxes for the school district debt will NOT increase if the referendum passes and why all of the components of the plan are so important. We have met parents, district staff, students, and senior citizens. We’d like to share some of what we have learned.
All of the students we’ve talked with are very excited about the plans. Those who participate in music at South look forward to having practice rooms in which they can fully extend their bows and a stage on which all the orchestra can fit. Students in winter sports were excited to see the proposal for a new gym at South, as they are often searching for practice space. The boys and girls basketball teams have to take turns — one group can practice after school, and the other has to come back at night to use the same space. Students at North were glad to see the proposal for a new science lab, as they want to ensure none will be shut out of a lab science as the student population there grows.
Parents shared other stories. We heard about dusty field hockey fields and muddy spring fields, and their impact on the students. They were thrilled to see the new kind of synthetic turf fields. Many implored us to do something about the auditorium, and were quite pleased that the plan includes a new auditorium with both a larger stage and quiet, comfortable seats.
Staff members enlightened us. We learned that Dutch Neck still has trailers and some small-group-instruction classes meet in the hall or on the stage. In Wicoff’s original second floor classrooms, there are only two electrical outlets in a classroom, posing quite a challenge to integrating technology into the curriculum. Dutch Neck, Wicoff, and Hawk staff were very glad to hear about the proposed ventilation work.
Almost everyone we’ve talked with has been very supportive. Some are understandably concerned about taxes, but are pleased to learn that the timing and amount of the referendum are such that taxes for school debt will remain level, and that the savings without the referendum would only be $64 to $111 a year for an average house. It seems our biggest enemies may be apathy and the “what’s in it for me” syndrome. We hope that the outcome will show that the members of the West Windsor-Plainsboro community truly do care about their neighbors, and will support each other for the good of the whole.
Anthony Fleres, Diane Hasling, Andy Lupo, Chris Yan
Citizens Referendum Team
Leaf Matters
In your January 6 issue, Kathy Murray replies to my December 16 letter and refers to the township looking like a “perpetual compost pile.” She is quite correct.
However, the regulations imposed by the township requiring the leaves to be placed on the grass between the c urb and the sidewalk are impractical and ineffective — some neighborhoods do not even have sidewalks and for those that do, the leaves do not stay on the narrow section of grass for long.
Show me a street in Princeton Junction/West Windsor where residents have not placed their leaves in the street. Placing the leaves off the street not only destroys the grass verges but results in a greater likelihood of the leaves blowing back into the yards causing further unsightliness and raking.
It is the infrequent untimely pick ups that cause the township to look like a compost pile with vast heaps of leaves lining the streets for weeks on end and not where homeowners place their leaves.
In offering a solution, may I point out that there is a large difference in leaf accumulation between the older neighborhoods — such as Berrien City and Sherbrooke Estates, which have many mature trees — and the newer lunar landscapes full of McMansions. The latter developments have few trees and therefore far fewer leaves.
The solution lies in more prudent use of our taxes. Instead of a monthly pick up per the townships’s website’s fixed schedule, a varied flexible pick up should be instituted based on snow forecast, location of neighborhood, and known leaf accumulations. In addition, two pick ups in both November and December should be planned for those neighborhoods with many trees. We would then avoid the compost pile image and ensure that leaves are picked up from all neighborhoods in a timely manner prior to the next snow fall.
If there are any fiscal complaints about the additional cost, the township should get rid of that mindless (holiday) tree lighting and fireworks display in December and put the thousands of dollars wasted there to better use in improving the curb appeal of our houses and township. Richard Moody
28 Norchester Drive,
Princeton Junction
Editor’s note: See page 17 for information about the new ordinance concerning leaves and other debris on the streets.
Gas Station?
No Sir, No Way!
Nell Whiting complained in the January 6 edition of the News about the lack of plans for a gas station in Plainsboro Town Center.
The Plainsboro Town Center is a mixed residential/commercial development. The growth rate of new construction coming up in Plainsboro in the past few years has been explosive, so there are many homes already located in what would typically be thought to be “undesirable” locations; e.g., NJ Transit rail running right through several backyards, homes spaced arms reach apart, etc.
Mixed residential/commercial developments are NOT ideal environments for the “residential” portion of that development. Having a gas station with underground storage tanks that could potentially result in soil and groundwater contamination is something residents already living so close to a major road, rail line and numerous commercial properties could live without.
Before Ms. Whiting complains about her commute to get gas, perhaps she could consider how she and her neighbors on Sayre Drive feel about living right next to or across from a gas station?
What the Scudders Mill Road/Plainsboro Town Center area sorely needs is more open space and maybe a play park, which would enhance the quality of life of those people who have opted for the “residential” portion of this increasingly commercial area. No, sir, a gas station is one thing Plainsboro can certainly do without. Jane Smith
Walker Gordon Farm,
Plainsboro
Gas Tank Perils
I have been a resident of Plainsboro Village for 12 years, and besides being an eyesore, I can tell you why I do not want a gas station in the Village Center: fuel spills and storage tank leaks. I work for a company that performs cleanups of contaminated sites, including those that have suffered contamination from gasoline in the soil and groundwater as a result of leaking underground storage tanks and/or spills while filling these tanks.
All it takes is one leaking tank or one spill to contaminate the soil and groundwater with noxious, cancer-causing chemicals like methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), ethylbenzene, and others. Cleanup of such a catastrophe would take years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, at minimum.
As a resident of Sayre Drive, which directly accesses Route 1, Ms. Whiting can easily reach the Sunoco, Gulf, and Exxon stations on southbound Route 1 in West Windsor and the Getty station on the northbound side of Route 1 in the same vicinity. Just the other day I drove from my home in Plainsboro Village to Larry’s Sunoco on Route 1 at 7:30 p.m., and the entire trip, including fill-up, took no longer than 10 minutes.
If Ms. Whiting chooses where to shop simply based on if there is a gas station nearby, that is her prerogative. I, however, will choose to run my errands at a convenient Village Center that is geared towards pedestrians and abides by what the neighborhood has to say. When the residents said no to a gas station in the Village Center, the township listened, and I thank them for that.
Sheryl Brown
Linden Lane, Plainsboro
