Mayor Steinmann tells companies they’re ‘missing the boat’ if they aren’t in Ewing
By Bill Sanservino
It’s a good time to be a Ewing resident or business.
That was the message conveyed by Mayor Bert Steinmann in his annual State of the Township speech, given at a meeting of the MidJersey Chamber of Commerce at the Mountain View Golf Course on April 9.
“When I became mayor in 2011, Ewing Township was in a very tumultuous state, and it wasn’t a very good state,” he said. “We were on the economic decline. I know economic times weren’t the best, but there were decisions that were made that weren’t all that good for the township.”
He said that when he took office, he promised himself that he would do everything he could to “right the ship.” His major focus was on economic development and seeking out partners to drive economic development in town.
Steinmann said that now, more than halfway into his fourth year at the helm, Ewing is the place to be for businesses.
“If you have a business that is not in Ewing Township, you’re missing the boat,” he said. “We are a community that is growing every day. I welcome everyone with open arms to come to Ewing Township.”
The mayor said that he recognizes that there are some negatives, ones that they work to address every day, “but the positives in this township are far greater than any negative you may hear about.”
Those positives include corporate presences that have located here in recent years such as Church & Dwight, CA Technologies, and FMC.
Steinmann specifically thanked Church and Dwight for relocating to Ewing Township and becoming its number one taxpayer. He also thanked N.J. Manufacturers for staying in town, while pointing out that Church and Dwight has made them the second biggest taxpayer.
“You guys are slipping,” he joked. “You’re going to have to put a building up or something.”
He also pointed to the Campus Town development that is being constructed by the PRC Group at The College of New Jersey. He explained that the town has signed a 30-year PILOT agreement with the developer that will result in a payment of $395,000 a year starting in 2016. That number will increase every year based on a percentage of the GDP, he said.
“In my discussions with PRC, there are some exciting things that are going to happen,” Steinmann said. “They’re negotiating with some name companies to locate there.” He said he can’t give names right now, because the companies haven’t yet signed leases.
According to sources, one of those companies might be Panera Bread, and there has also been talk of a Barnes & Noble at the location.
Steinmann said since he became mayor in 2011, the township has seen its ratable base grow by $95 million. This was thanks in no small part to a strong partnership that the township has built with Mercer County. “It’s people like Brian Hughes (Mercer County executive), who bought into our plan, and Ewing Township has benefited from this immensely.”
Another indicator of the township’s improved situation is its bond rating.
Steinmann said that just before he took office, the town had been downgraded by Standard & Poor’s to an A2 negative rating, and he has worked since then to bring it back up again. “A year and a half later, through all our hard work, we were upgraded to A+ positive.”
Following his speech, Steinmann announced on April 25 that the township’s bond rating had been upgraded again by Standard & Poor’s to AA.
That’s a positive for the town, he explained during his speech, because it makes it cheaper to borrow money.
“We’re starting a lot of capital projects, and we’ll be able to borrow more money at lower interest rates because people will actually want to take a chance on Ewing Township again.”
A major boon to the township has been the success of the county-run Trenton-Mercer Airport, which has thrived since Frontier Air started flying out of there in 2012. He again credited the county executive for its growth.
“The airport is probably the fastest growing airport for a regional airport in the entire country,” Steinmann said. “That’s certainly no small feat by Brian (Hughes) and his team for getting that done and for getting Frontier Airlines here to do that. My thanks to him and his team for having the vision to do that, and for doing it at the right place and at the right time.”
“This airport is the economic engine not only for Ewing Township, but for the entire region,” he said, adding that it’s estimated that the airport will see some 100,000 passengers come through the this terminal year. “That’s quite a few more people from where it was five, six, seven, eight years ago when we were lucky to have 50 people come through there.”
Just as important for Ewing is the redevelopment of the General Motors site by the Lennar Corporation. The mayor reported that Lennar has finalized its agreements with RACER Trust, the current property owner, and the project is ready to move forward. He said he’s hopeful that construction can begin at the site by the end of this year.
“It’s a little optimistic,” he said, “but I think we can get that accomplished.”
A major component of the GM project is the connection of Silvia Street between Parkway Avenue and Sullivan Way.
“I always wanted Silvia street to be connected, even if the GM project wasn’t going to be there, because by connecting Silvia Street, our (fire and rescue) response times for the apartments and condominiums that are located there will be cut in half. It’s a vital need that this road be built one way or another.”
In order to get the project started, Steinmann said he has asked council to approve a $2 million bond issue. “It’s not enough to finish the project, but we’ll be talking to Lennar and the state DOT about grants or other funding to finish that road.”
The township has also met with officials at the state DOT and SEPTA to talk about the West Trenton train station and what needs to renovate the current station, improve the parking there and ultimately move the station to the GM site and reconnect the rail line so it runs to New York City.
Meanwhile, Steinmann is also in talks with several smaller companies and one large company about moving into Ewing. The town is also in negotiations with a cosmetics company from Italy that is looking to move into town. The mayor said those talks are serious and have progressed to the county and state level.
Another expansion the mayor mentioned was by PEAC Health and Fitness Club on Lower Ferry Road, which is building a new indoor soccer field to be opening sometime in October or November. “So go on out there and check it out,” he said. “Put on your cleats and play some soccer.”
He said all this activity is why people want to relocate to Ewing Township and the surrounding areas, and he is happy to talk business with anyone.
“We have great things to offer. We have great things to talk about,” said Steinmann. “If you want to move your company here, or move your small business here, or whatever your need be, it all starts off at town hall. We’ll have a face to face meeting.We’ll sit down and talk about what the process is to move things forward.
“You’re not going to get tied up for six or seven months. If you are very serious about a project in Ewing Township, we’re going to get it done quickly. That doesn’t mean we’re going to do it wrong, though. You’re going to have to abide by all the rules and regulations, but we’re going to make every effort to take out every piece of red tape that we possibly can to get you where you’ve got to get.”
On the tax front, Steinmann said that despite increased expenses to pay for snow cleanup from this winter and other increases in expenses, this year’s budget only calls for 2.3-cent increase in municipal taxes. That translates to a tax increase of $28 a year on a home with an assessed valuation of $125,000.
“I think that’s very reasonable,” he said, adding that he refuses to be fiscally irresponsible by having a budget with no tax increase just because this is an election year.
“That’s not the way to run government and its not the way to do business,” he said. “You need to put a realistic budget on the table and that’s what we’ve been doing year in and year out.”
He said that once the GM site is fully developed, the township is looking at between $3 million and $4 million in additional tax revenues. “That will absolutely stabilize the tax base.”
Another development in the area of taxes is the issue of a township-wide property revaluation, which hasn’t been performed since 1992.
“We can no longer push it aside,” Steinmann said. “The state of New Jersey and the tax board came in and said we absolutely need to start doing a revaluation.”
He said the revaluation is expected to start at the end of this year and go into effect in 2015. “The process will help some individuals. It will take a bigger bite out of somebody else’s budget, but overall, it will put everybody on an equal playing field.”
Steinmann also addressed the major renovation work being done at town hall. The repairs desperately needed to be done because the building had been neglected since it was built some 25 years ago. “Not one thing was done to that building. The roof was leaking and our answer was to keep applying patches to it. Well, we got to the point where we couldn’t do it any more, so I took the initiative and decided that we needed to go out and bond money and start renovating the building.”
To date, the work is about halfway completed. The new roof is done and internal renovations are taking place and should be complete by June or early July. “I hope you come by and visit the campus and see what we’ve done,” the mayor said. “Everything that’s in there is energy efficient. There new boilers, a new parking lot lighting, and new LED lighting in the building.”
Steinmann said that due to the environmentally friendly improvements at town hall in addition to efforts by the township’s Green Team in other areas, Ewing achieved Bronze Level certification by Sustainable Jersey, an accomplishment that makes the township eligible to obtain grant money for future green efforts.
“This has never been achieved before by this township, and we will continue on that track and hopefully get to Silver someday. It’s a tough road to get to, but we’re going to get there someday.”
At the beginning of his speech, the mayor talked about the South Fork gas explosion in March that leveled or damaged numerous homes in the community, and singled out the efforts of all those who responded to the disaster.
“They’ve done a tremendous job,” said Steinmann. “They went out there and there was no confusion and chaos. It was methodically done. They went house by house by house in getting people out and trying to help individuals. They controlled the site for 12 to 20 hours while we were sifting through the debris to find out what had happened. My hat goes off to those individuals and a special thanks the officer in charge, Ron Lunetta, who led the police department and EMS director Bill Erney.
“It’s gratifying to know that you have individuals like that who stand up and do such a great job in a professional way that you’re proud that you’re mayor of the community.
He also reported the the Disaster Relief fund to benefit victims of the disaster has raised $250,000 to date. “As a mayor you’re also proud that so many businesses and individuals stepped up to make contributions. From large donors to smaller donors. Goods and cash.”
In order to make a contribution, go to the Ewing Disaster Relief Fund website at ewingnj.org/disaster-relief or call 609-538-7601.
,
