New Jersey Voters Don’t Count

2 July 2009 @ 0:09 | Posted in » Education, New Jersey, Politics

In April all across New Jersey, voters were brought to the polls to vote for school budgets. There will 26 fewer of those votes next year since Gov. Corzine decided to raise property taxes by eliminating school districts without schools. While that sounds nonsensical, there are such places. Virtually no overhead is expended, but they do serve a purpose: approving tuition for the handful of students they send to other districts. The districts will be folded into larger districts saving virtually no money. But these districts will feel a negative effect.

Shiloh sends 37 students to Hopewell. Next year Shiloh residents will see their property taxes skyrocket as its property represents 10% of the new district and thus will shoulder a much larger share of the expense. Meanwhile, Hopewell property owners will see a decrease in their property taxes thanks to Shiloh’s contributions.

A few years ago I documented a similar situation for tiny Cape May Point. It is able to educate its students at the rate of 2.6¢/$100 of valuation. Yes, you read that correctly, 2.6¢. It too will be eliminated. How much do you think Cape May Point’s property taxes will rise for the handful of students it educates?

Voters in these districts don’t matter. The state has overruled them. While many will have a seat on the new school boards, that is only temporary. Eventually they will need to compete for those seats. Being as tiny as they are, they do not stand much of a chance of winning in their new district.

But all that pales to what happened in Commercial Township yesterday. Back in April when the voters were asked whether they approved the school budget or not, the voters said they didn’t. Commercial Township voted down the school budget.

But it doesn’t matter. The township’s committee yesterday voted to approve the school budget. It is incredulous. No changes were made to the budget. The reason for approval is that by law the township could not lower taxes on the budget. That is due to Governor Corzine determining a minimum tax rate for school districts, regardless of what voters want.

With that, it passed the budget the voters do not want. Screw you, Mr. Voter. We’ll do what we damn well please.

Why do taxpayers foot the bill for an election and subsequent meetings to determine a budget if in the end it doesn’t matter what the voters say? It reminds me of the questions my wife asks me that hardly matter.