Pop quizz

Are you really paying attention?

Let us leave aside those who want to hold a Rally or March; let’s ignore, for the moment, those candidates hosting “clean-ups” and cook-outs to promote their candidacy (did they do this before they got on the ballot?); let’s go back to the days before the NJ Supreme Court upheld the citizen’s right to hold a referendum on the ill-advised sale of part of the Trenton Water Works.


Let’s turn back the clock a week or so. You remember, back to when Mr. Palmer and others were wringing their hands and rending their garments and wailing at the Capitol building because the Governor had announced he was cutting all funding to Trenton.

(You do remember that “crisis,” right?)

The Palmer plot line is and has always been that the city loses a lot of money because it hosts the seat of state government. He regularly cites the amount of land the “state controls” as 1/3 of the city’s landmass and repeatedly claims Trenton does not get its fair share of property taxes from all the state buildings.

Some folks agree.

Some don’t.

Here’s an online quiz you can take to test your knowledge of ownership of office buildings in the city of Trenton. This appeared this morning on the Trenton Speaks forum. Like the individual who posted it, I think most will be surprised.

State of New Jersey or Private Developer » Create A Quiz

It is the state's fault

{Yawn!}

Well, we weren’t too far off in our estimation of Doug Palmer’s speech regarding the governor’s proposed elimination of all aid to the city of Trenton. (Surprisingly, there were no shout outs to departing Acting Business Administrator Dennis Gonzalez and no blame laid at the feet of the opponents to the Trenton Water Works split and sale).

In a rather tired and repetitive speech before a packed city council chamber, Palmer pointed the finger squarely at the Capitol and the state’s alleged refusal to pay a fair share. He railed against the states refusal to allow development on the surface parking lots that surround some of the state buildings downtown.

In short, last night was an attempt at a Tent Revival-type meeting aimed at firing up the public’s passionate indignation at the Governor putting his foot down and refusing to fund the city’s spendthrift ways.

By and large, the attempt failed.

Palmer was unable to stir much emotion from the assembled crowd as he read through his prepared remarks.

We’ve heard it all before and I think all but the most die-hard Palmer supporters are tired of the twisted logic and half-truths.

Let’s remember that the parking lots around the Hughes Justice Complex are actually owned by the Trenton Parking Authority (TPA). The state has a 40 year lease with the TPA for those spots that brought nearly $1.3 million in revenue last year.

And then there is Palmer’s estimate that the state would owe $155 million in taxes if they paid the same assessment as other property owners.

Dan Dodson, who has formed a citizen’s group to look at AND FIX the city’s budget has come up with the following counter argument:

Mayor Palmer claims that the State should be paying us $155M if they were taxed at our rate (~let’s say 3% effective). That would equate to a valuation of state property of roughly $4.5B.
However, DCA estimates all public property in Trenton which includes State, City and Federal buildings (but doesn’t include schools and the arenas) at $1.4B. Based on this number and some analysis by Trenton Downtown Associationi and my own guesstimate, I’d say the State valuation is more like $1.2B. With that valuation in mind, the State would owe more like $36M/year in PILOT.
Trenton’s actual ratable value is $2.1B (the number our property taxes are based on).
A disagreement about this basic fact would lead to two radically different positions:

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  If the Mayor is right, then the State is a deadbeat like he said.

  
  
  
  
  

  If my calculations are right, then we’ve been receiving aid for a long time because the State currently funds us to the tune of $340M ($250M for schools and $90 for municipal aid).

  
  
  
  

In the coming days there will no doubt be more revelations on the topic of state funding. What we do know is that Doug Palmer failed in his effort to incite the crowd at last night’s meeting. It was, by most accounts, a waste of time.

Let’s hope that the Fix Trenton’s Budget group can provide some clearheaded thinking that can be brought to the table during negotiations with the state.

Hamilton Mayor gets it right

Hamilton Township Mayor John Bencivengo has taken his name off the list of people slated to get a salary increase if a proposed ordinance is passed tonight.  And that's good.

Mayor Bencivengo also proposed the raise for himself and his department directors and other township employees in a specific and very public ordinance.  That is also good.

The proposed salary increases have generated a lot of anger and backlash from the taxpayers. 

Sound familiar?

At least Mayor Bencivengo has been open and above board with the way he has gone about proposing the salary increase.  Mayor Bencivengo has also realized that by taking his raise off the table he shows he understands the feelings of the taxpayers.

Let's point out right now that Mayor Bencivengo oversees the operation of a municipality more than five times the size of the city of Trenton.  Hamilton's population is at least 10% greater than Trenton's and growing while Trenton's is shrinking.  Hamilton's bond rating was recently improved due to it's sound financial management.

And one last point, Mayor Bencivengo (and Mayor Gilmore before him as the salary hasn't increased in a decade) earns about 78% of what Doug Palmer takes home for ruining running the city of Trenton.

Are you paying attention, Doug?  Or is it all the state's fault?