Voters to decide whether to merge two Princetons into one (original) (raw)

Jody Somers/For The Star-LedgerJohn and Gloria Borden, residents of Princeton Borough for 50 years, talk about their views on the upcoming vote to consolidate Princeton Township and Princeton Borough.

PRINCETON — When Election Day polling places open Tuesday morning, the number of towns in New Jersey will stand at 566 — more than Pennsylvania, Delaware and Massachusetts combined.

When the polls close, the state could well be on its way to reducing that number for the first time since 1997, when tiny Pahaquarry Township in Warren County packed it in because its seven residents weren’t enough to form a local government.

And the consolidation could occur in one New Jersey’s most storied locales: Princeton.

After three failed attempts in nearly 60 years, voters will decide whether to merge Princeton Borough and Princeton Township. This time, the consolidation effort has the muscle of Gov. Chris Christie behind it, as well as the backing of a 10-member commission that studied the plan for two years.

Christie touts sharing services and consolidating towns as a way to reign in sky-high property taxes. Since local voters across New Jersey regularly reject combining towns, Tuesday’s vote in Princeton could be historic.

The local study commission, made up of residents and elected officials from the borough and township, says merging the Princetons would save $3.2 million a year when fully implemented.

It says if they had consolidated this year, average property tax savings would have been 201forboroughhomeowners,and201 for borough homeowners, and 201forboroughhomeowners,and240 in the township. In 2010, the average property tax in the borough was 15,255,comparedto15,255, compared to 15,255,comparedto16,212 in the township.

"If we stay at status quo, there’s no other way that we can generate that level of savings, period," said Princeton Township Mayor Chad Goerner, who added the bad economy and a 2 percent cap on property taxes enacted by Christie may sway voters this time.

The two Princetons already have 13 shared services. By merging the towns, the police departments, clerk’s offices and public works departments could also be merged, proponents argue.

"We need to be more intelligent about how we deliver services to the community in the most efficient way possible," Goerner said. Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman, a proponent of the merger, did not return calls for comment.

Consolidation can’t move forward unless a majority of voters in both the township and the borough say yes. Residents of the township, which wraps around the borough like a doughnut, approved a merger by a three-to-one margin in 1996, but it died when 55 percent of borough residents voted no. The measure was also rejected in 1953 and 1979.

A merger does come with some short-term costs, such as potentially buying out employees whose jobs would be cut, attorneys fees to merge the two Princetons’ laws and employee practices, and nuts and bolts changes such as new logos for town vehciles and moving everyone into one town hall.

Jody Somers/For The Star-LedgerAude Gabory, left, of Chicago, walks with her husband Matthew Gentzkow, right, and their 17-month-old son, Julien, as they join the pedestrians on Nassau Street in the borough of Princeton on Halloween. Voters will decide next week whether to consolidate Princeton Borough and Princeton Township.

In September, Christie proposed allowing towns that merge to spread these transition costs over five years and for the state to pick up the tab for one year of the consolidation expenses.

Some borough residents worry their interests will be overshadowed by those of the township in a combined government.

While Princeton Township has 16,000 residents to the borough’s 12,000, Kate Warren, spokeswoman for the anti-merging group "Preserve our Historic Borough," said the borough’s figures are inflated by college kids usually disinterested in local issues.

"We feel that we lose a huge amount of our political power," she said. Warren also believes the cost of merging will be higher than anticipated, resulting in a property tax hike.

Borough Councilman David Goldfarb, the sole "no" vote on the study commission, said the year of transition will disrupt day-to-day government services. "It’s a considerable amount of disruption to achieve very little," he said. "The benefits do not flow to borough residents."

RELATED COVERAGE:

• In this economy, consolidation could be right move for NJ towns

• Q&A: Consolidating N.J. towns

Standing on the corner of Nassau and Witherspoon streets Monday morning, Bill Rosen, a township resident for 27 years, said "it’s hard to figure out how not to vote for consolidation."

Gloria and John Borden, borough residents for more than 50 years, said they will vote yes. But Gloria Borden said others in the borough will vote no, for "nostalgic, emotional reasons."

NEW JERSEY'S 'DOUGHNUT TOWNS'

There are 22 sets of "doughnut towns" in New Jersey, those where one town wraps around the other town:

BURLINGTON COUNTY

• Pemberton and Pemberton Township
• Medford Lakes and Medford Township

GLOUCESTER COUNTY

• Swedesboro and Woolwich Township

HUNTERDON COUNTY

• Lebanon Borough and Clinton Township
• Flemington and Raritan Township

MERCER COUNTY

• Hopewell Borough and Hopewell Township
• Pennington and Hopewell Township
• Princeton Borough and Princeton Township
• Hightstown and East Windsor

MIDDLESEX COUNTY

• Metuchen and Edison
• Jamesburg and Monroe

MONMOUTH COUNTY

• Englishtown and Manalapan
• Farmingdale and Howell
• Freehold Borough and Freehold Township

MORRIS COUNTY

• Chester Borough and Chester Township
• Morristown and Morris Township

OCEAN COUNTY

• Lakehurst and Manchester Township

SALEM COUNTY

• Woodstown and Pilesgrove Township

SUSSEX COUNTY

• Branchville and Frankford
• Sussex Borough and Wantage

WARREN COUNTY

• Alpha and Pohatcong
• Washington Borough and Washington Township

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