Commission meets on Borough, Township consolidation

For the past several months, the Joint Consolidation/Shared Services Study Commission has been working with the Center for Governmental Research, a nonprofit public management consulting firm, to examine the possibility of a merger.

Supporters of consolidation hope to save on net community expenses through joint operation of public services. Members of the commission have predicted that savings would likely be modest and would go to enhancing public services rather than reducing property taxes.

A consolidated Princeton would incur and manage a single public debt, and the commission discussed whether it would be possible to fairly combine the existing debts of the municipalities if consolidation were to occur.

The Township’s existing debt is $70 million while the Borough’s existing debt is $26 million. However, when considered in ratio to the real property valuation of the two municipalities, the debts are nearly identical — 1.70 percent for the Township and 1.71 percent for the Borough.

The commission is debating whether to simply combine the debts and pay them using one taxation system or to preserve two segregated debts.

Segregated debts would allow property taxes paid on former Borough homes to pay off the Borough’s preexisting debt and property taxes on Township homes to pay off the Township’s debt. Borough and Township properties could still be taxed at different rates.

If the existing debts are simply combined, the commission would consider equalizing the debt by requiring the Township to make a one-time payment of the difference between the two municipalities’ debts.

“What I’ve seen in pretty much every other place is the same argument for fairness,” said Joseph Stefko, a representative from the Center for Government Research. “That you incurred debt before we got married and I incurred debt before we got married. We’ll keep that debt separate. Once we’re married, it’s all for one, one for all.”

After the commission’s March 9 meeting, the subcommittee examining the proposed municipality’s form of government also recommended that a possible consolidated community follow the Borough’s current form of government, with a a six-member legislative council and a non-voting mayor who are directly elected by the people.

Also at the meeting, William Metro, a representative from the commission’s subcommittee on the police department, reported that consolidation may yield some savings through a slight reduction in the number of sworn officers.

“The savings is going to be about $800,000 to $900,000, and it could go as high as $1.3 [million] to $1.5 [million] in after-savings,” he said. “We’re talking about keeping a higher head count to start with ... Hopefully that can come down to 57, possibly 55, for total head count of the police department.”

In addition to a head count reduction, Metro said that redundant application systems, such as the dispatch system, would also be purged.

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The commission’s public works subcommittee reported on a meeting with the Borough and Township Public Works department. While representatives said the department was open to either consolidation of the municipalities or departmental consolidation, “the staff would prefer to function under consolidated government, because they are concerned that if there are two bosses there would be two different priorities,” commission deputy chair Valerie Haynes said.

The commission also discussed plans for a public event co-sponsored by Princeton Future, a local organization dedicated to “protecting and enhancing” the town. The event — a public conversation about consolidation and shared services — will take place on Saturday at the Princeton Public Library.

If the commission makes a recommendation in favor of consolidation in May, Princeton residents will vote on consolidation as a referendum in the November election.

The referendum would have to pass in both the Township and the Borough to go into effect. When the two sides last voted on consolidation in 1996, the measure passed in the Township but failed in the Borough.