I apologize for sounding the alarm for greater accountability and transparency in West Windsor government. These hollow buzzwords are usually reserved for aspiring or entrenched politicians. Let’s be positive and you decide. To wit:
1. Secret negotiations have given West Windsor taxpayers a municipal debt of approximately $41 million. The ever-rising annual operating budget is $37 million. West Windsor’s profligate tax-and-spend mayor and administration has recently (September) added another $5 million for taxpayer obligations. Debt encumbers the ability to think clearly and respond to genuine community-wide needs.
Currently the federal budget deficit for the fiscal year ending September 2010 is $1.3 trillion. If the federal government has to step in, again, with bailout money for the banks, we might see that deficit rise to $1.6 trillion, and that’s a big concern, not just for the banks but also for taxpayers who will have to foot that bill.
2. Municipal and school district wage negotiations are done in private between West Windsor administration and the CWA/Public Service Workers Union and the Board of Education and Teachers’ Union, respectively. Without benefit of public input, the results are then “announced” with fanfare often after the voters cast their votes!
Such a collusion has provided West Windsor-Plainsboro school taxpayers with recent salary pool increases of 4.9 percent, 4.8, 4.7 (this year), and another 3.38 percent starting July 1, 2011. How can these negotiating parties see three to five years into the future?
3. Jewish Community Center land sale? At the October 18 Township Council meeting, on the advice of counsel Mike Herbert, President Diane Ciccone reminded the public and Council that land negotiations must be conducted in secrecy. I believe full disclosure should be required prior to public funds being committed to pay for the dreams or backroom deals of a select few politicians pandering to a constituency. There should be no JCC agreement prior to a public vetting. Perhaps the JCC would want to donate the land it might not otherwise be able to sell.
4. Affordable housing? With a nationwide unsold inventory of 5 million foreclosed houses, why is West Windsor spending another 5 cents on any pursuit beyond making West Windsor affordable? Who will fund the necessary infrastructure improvements needed in West Windsor and all urban settings?
5. Transit Village: The developer and Council are meeting in . . . SECRET? Has the mayor disclosed how much money Council has already spent on the entire redevelopment process? According to Council attorney Mike Herbert, two years ago West Windsor residents were not permitted to conduct a non-binding referendum on what the community wanted! How much money for legal expenses has been spent defending the mayor and council’s unilateral redevelopment actions?
6. Municipal Budget 2011: Since mid-summer, I have asked Council for its plans to have its budget ready by January 1, 2011, because West Windsor’s fiscal year is the same as the calendar year. Council says the administration needs to do this, yet the mayor won’t get a budget ready because he doesn’t know how much state aid will arrive.
A better assumption? No state aid! Get West Windsor’s budget done now instead of adopting a budget five months late!
7. Frivolous Spending: Is this why West Windsor administration is spending $153,000 on a new snowplow and $50,000 for a full-color electronic LED message sign at the Ron Rodgers Arboretum? Why would West Windsor want to start its $500,000 road-paving program with cold weather approaching?
In summary, my quest for quantitative answers remains bogged in the proverbial political quicksand best articulated by Councilman Charlie Morgan whose retort to my questions is: “These questions should be addressed by the Administration, not Council.” We continue to get more taxation without representation.
By contrast, if my questions were asked in Plainsboro Township, where its mayor is selected annually, the elected decision-makers are always present. Since 1992 West Windsor has generated far more questions than cost-effective answers. Transparency, accountability, and spending reductions? You decide.
Peter R. Weale
Fisher Place, West Windsor
