At the August 1 Town Council meeting, President Khanna referred to a fiscal impact study conducted by him and the Administration that supposedly shows that the proposed InterCap transit village would be tax-positive. This is an unsubstantiated statement that he also made at the previous meeting on July 18. Mr. Khanna and the Administration have so far declined to share this study with the public, and I was informed by the clerk’s office on the afternoon of August 2 that it is not considered to be a public document. Until proved otherwise, we are therefore left with the clear implication that the study’s assumptions, methodology, and conclusions would not withstand detailed public scrutiny.
We are fortunate to have many professionals in West Windsor who are experts in conducting and examining financial analyses. Mr. Khanna is a businessman himself and should not fear the results of a prompt public examination, if his study is actually as well-founded as we have been given to understand.
These delaying tactics are unacceptable to many in our community, including several Council members. They and the public have repeatedly asked that such a study, which should of course include sensitivity analyses, be conducted and published, but to no avail. Because of the possible severely negative financial effects of the transit village on West Windsor, this should be done well before the ordinances come up for adoption and not put off until the subsequent formal Planning Board application process (assuming the ordinances were to be adopted at the September 19 Council meeting). At the latter point, the momentum to proceed with the project could already be too great to be reversed no matter what a fiscal impact study would show. (This writer has frequently seen the ill results of such bandwagon effects in research and development work.) Mr. Khanna should therefore release his fiscal impact study now, along with all of the supporting assumptions and documentation.
To give only one example of many factors that should be included in the study, demolition of the existing office buildings in InterCap’s RP-1 district (whether by InterCap or its successor) would lead to a loss of more than $413,000 per year in tax receipts attributable to these improvements (2010 figures, apart from the land) until certificates of occupancy started to be issued for new structures. Due to the extensive filling, grading, and infrastructure work that would be needed after demolition and before any new construction could begin, this process could easily take several years, during which time these losses would continue. In the meantime, taxpayers would have to make up these deficits, or else services would have to be cut.
The two ordinances that were introduced by a 3-2 vote at the August 1 meeting have now been referred to the Planning Board, which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, August 17. The public is invited to come to this initial review meeting and voice their objections to any further action until an appropriate fiscal impact study has been released and thoroughly examined by independent financial professionals.
John A. Church
West Windsor
