I received a mailing from Marathe For Mayor last week. His flyer was filled with disengenuous and misleading statements concerning our current mayor.
— MISLEADING: Marathe says the mayor “fought on the side of Mercer County Community College against West Windsor residents during solar farm proposal and installation.”
The mayor has supported the residents to the extent possible. The township doesn’t have the authority to block this effort. He has met with residents, held meetings, and contacted other government officials to help the interests of West Windsor and its residents. I recall that the mayor also sent a letter to the governor, county executive, and the county freeholders.
— MISLEADING: Marathe says that the mayor “spent over $1 million in tax dollars in planning costs for the transit village, yet almost nothing has been done.”
First off, the number is $768,321.99. The mayor secured $106,791 in grants to offset this amount. Additionally, there was a court-approved $665,000 settlement that Intercap will pay back to the township. The mayor has been working for smart development for years. Results are obvious: On Route 571, new West Windsor resident parking lot, redevelopment of the Windsor Plaza, new Rite Aid, planned improvements to Ellsworth Center, township infrastructure improvements, improved Senior Center, Arts Center, Farmers Market, etc.
— MISLEADING: Marathe says the mayor wants a $5 million renovation to town hall; residential growth of 800 units in the Transit Village, and more growth and development on the 650-acre tract along Clarkville Road, which may add more than 10,000 residents.
UNBELIEVABLY MISLEADING: The mayor does not want a $5 million renovation to town hall. There was a preliminary study done and nothing more. All branches of local government will have input on this topic along with the public. Concerning the 800 units, after many years an agreement was reached with Intercap for its redevelopment plans. The courts, council and the administration were all part of this agreement, including one of Marathe’s running mates.
— SCARE TACTIC: Marathe says “Transit Village 2 on 650-acre tract which may add over 10,000 residents.” Where did this statement come from? Definitely not from the mayor. As a township, we haven’t even started discussions on the use of this property with the owners.
And as a reminder, our township provides full service (trash collection, bush collection, fire protection, etc.) and still has the lowest municipal tax rate in the entire region based on this full service.
Andy Bromberg
West Windsor
I am writing to refute a misleading claim by Mayor Hsueh’s Moving Forward Together team. They brag that the mayor reduced West Windsor’s municipal tax rate, implying that this rate alone is a meaningful number. It’s not. It’s the total amount of taxes you pay that matters, and that is calculated by multiplying the tax rate by the assessed value of your house.
The mayor’s team is telling only half of the story. Here’s what they neglected to say:
Townships conduct a real estate revaluation every few years to keep the assessed value of housing in line with market prices. West Windsor conducted its last assessment in 2005, a period of skyrocketing real estate prices. As a result, the average assessed value of a house in the township increased 140 percent.
Since residents would never tolerate a 140 percent tax increase, the administration adjusted the tax rate down proportionately. In 2006 the municipal portion of your tax rate was reduced from $0.59 per $100 assessed value to $0.27. The final result was that municipal taxes increased by 11 percent in 2006 even though the tax rate had dropped significantly.
The mayor’s team wants you to believe that he lowered your tax rate when, in fact, he raised your taxes. Not only did the mayor raise taxes 11 percent under cover of a municipal property revaluation, but your municipal taxes have increased 131 percent during the Hsueh administration. This compares to a 45 percent increase in school taxes during the same period under Hemant Marathe.
Beware of half-truths from Mayor Hsueh’s team.
J. Thomas Boyer
Van Wyck Drive
Anthony DeCarlo’s letter giving Mayor Hsueh credit for striking a deal with Plainsboro to split school district taxes is yet another example of the mayor taking credit for something he had absolutely nothing to do with.
The decision to split school taxes was made by voters. It was made possible due to the leadership of Hemant Marathe as the school board president, who convinced Plainsboro Mayor Peter Cantu and Mayor Hsueh to support the proposal. The true credit for the deal belongs to Marathe.
Far more important, Cantu agreed to the deal because he anticipated continued development in West Windsor in the form of the Transit Village and because of Hsueh’s desire to grow the town. Cantu realized correctly that in the long run West Windsor taxpayers will continue to share a higher burden if Mayor Hsueh’s vision of a bigger West Windsor becomes a reality.
Voters have an opportunity to elect Hemant Marathe to control population growth in West Windsor and bring fiscal discipline.
Sandeep Dandekar
Ellsworth Drive
The recent flyer from the mayor’s campaign is unbelievably misleading. First, the writers lump the Plainsboro portion of the school budget in with West Windsor’s and then fail to do the same with the respective municipal budgets. Also, they should have used the tax levies, not the gross budgets. The levies are what we actually pay; they are what’s left over after subtracting various income streams. The mayor’s campaign flyer would have earned an F in math class.
Here are the figures in terms of actual dollars that West Windsor residents paid beginning in 2001 and ending in 2013. In 2001 our school tax levy was $58.603 million and the municipal levy was $9.836 million. In 2013 the respective figures were $84.773 million and $22.681 million. During this period the school dollars increased 44.7 percent and the municipal dollars increased 130.6 percent, as any child can calculate and which the Marathe flyers clearly show. The school dollars increased in proportion to inflation plus the population increase, while the municipal dollars far exceeded this standard.
We are past due in bringing our municipal leadership up to the same standards as our schools.
The mayor’s ad writers need to learn some elementary math.
Jennifer Peterson
Penns Neck
