Updated, November 5, 2015, 2:36 PM
On Tuesday, November 3rd, you get to vote in the Bridgewater Township Mayoral and Council elections. For those of us who make Bridgewater our home, this may turn out to be the most influential among the other three contests on the ballot; namely, those of the schools, county, and state elections.
On Tuesday, November 3rd, you get to vote in the Bridgewater Township Mayoral and Council elections. For those of us who make Bridgewater our home, this may turn out to be the most influential among the other three contests on the ballot; namely, those of the schools, county, and state elections.
This is one of the few times in Bridgewater history that
there has been a well-organized, concentrated push on behalf of new faces to
oust all three incumbents. This one is
not a sleeper.
Competition in elections is good but, onto itself, an
opposing field of candidates does not necessarily provide a compelling basis to
replace an ongoing, effective leadership such as that which exists in
Bridgewater.
The candidates striving to push out incumbents Mayor Dan Hayes
and Council Members Matthew Moench and Christine Henderson-Rose simply have not
come up with the beef, despite a bevy of claims, most of which don’t hold
water.
RECOMMENDATION: Although change is at times desirable, this
is not the moment for it in Bridgewater.
It will not improve conditions here, will not change your real estate taxes
for the better, and will disrupt a well-managed team running this township, one
that is doing much better than most Bridgewaterites may suspect.
The charges brought by opponents of the Hayes, Moench and
Henderson-Rose ticket are largely unpersuasive, factually misleading, and, at
least in one case, demonstratively bogus.
Tax Rate Reality: Bridgewater’s municipal tax rate, the only portion
of your entire real estate tax bill for which Bridgewater Municipal Government
is responsible, is the second lowest in Somerset County.
However, when the open space and library tax rates of presumably
lowest-tax-rated Bernards are included in its own calculation, Bridgewater ends
up with an even lower tax rate, making it effectively the best in Somerset
County.
Yet political opponents of the Bridgewater Township
administration are howling about that!
Business Acumen: Bridgewater leadership, past and present, has
worked very hard to lure corporate headquarters into this township. Keeping them here is just as difficult a
struggle.
There has not been an iota of evidence presented by the
three joint-candidates attempting to overthrow the incumbents that they can
meet the business challenges any better than the Hayes administration and independent
Council Members Matthew Moench and Christine Henderson-Rose.
Management Skills: I’ve attended scores of township meetings
under three mayors: Hayes has a skilled
team that includes a strong township administrator, an experienced development economic manager
and other competent department heads.
I’m not going to schmooze you by maintaining that every
department head and each manager is perfect.
That just isn’t the case.
But I haven’t seen anything from the challengers’ written
claims as to where the weakest link on the Bridgewater Township management team
may be, or how, if they identified one, these electoral challengers would
presume to effect change in that regard.
Nebulous Claims: The mayoral aspirant and the two council candidates
attempting to knock off Dan Hayes, Matthew Moench and Christine Henderson-Rose have
written that it’s time to “shake
Bridgewater up,” and to institute “smart
fiscal management.”
OK. But just what is
going to get shaken up? What, exactly will
they do to improve upon current fiscal management at the municipal level in
Bridgewater?
Dispelling a most Unsavory and Popular Myth:
The juggernaut tax burden in Bridgewater Township does not
emanate from municipal government.
It is the tax burden imposed by the Bridgewater-Raritan
Schools District which claims that distinction -- it constitutes 67% of each
and every tax dollar that comes from your pocket when you pay your tax
bill.
County taxes, Bridgewater municipal taxes, and Special
District Taxes constitute 20%, 12.1% and 1.3% of the remaining portion of your
tax bill, respectively.
So, if you want your taxes to stabilize, visit the Wade
Building in Martinsville at its next School Board meeting and make your voices
known.
That is where the pressure is currently being exerted by
powerful unions to settle the next multi-year round of labor contract negotiations now under
way which, if accepted by the BR-BOE, will result in your taxes rising even
further.
Have you heard any mention of that “inconvenient fact” relating to “smart
fiscal management?” and of how tax rates would be cut or stabilized in the
face of that proportional issue, because it’s within the School District that
the big bucks are being spent.
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