"Death by a million paper cuts."

That's how the property tax problem was described last night by a resident of East Windsor Township. In the pouring rain a few hundred people came out to talk to and hear from the 12th LD's elected representation: State Senator Ellen Karcher, Assemblyman Michael Panter and Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck in a School Funding Forum hosted by the East Windsor Regional School District. The district consists of E. Windsor and Hightstown Borough; along with more than 50% of the districts statewide, they voted down their budget this year. (All comments in quotes are from residents at the forum.)

"Living with a flawed formula"

The Assemblyfolk and Senator opened with statements on their positions on school funding, with Jennifer Beck going a bit off topic and sticking to her NJ Repub Talking Points. It was clear that they get it, that there is a huge problem with school funding and they need to solve it. Assemblyman Panter clearly railed against Home Rule. He also stated unequivocally that the Abbot decision is unfair to "the bulk of suburban New Jersey." The 12th is one of the few legislative districts in this state without an Abbot school district.

"Teachers should not be a scapegoat for this."

An interesting point is that no one seemed to be angry about the quality of education in the district; indeed, many people praised Superintendant Ron Bolandi and the job the district has done in educating their students. The vote was not about education; it was a "taxpayer revolt." The problem of high funding of teacher benefits was discussed- apparently, 20% of the state budget will be benefits by 2010, according to Beck, but that is a contractual issue and not much can be done. Michael Panter touted his bill to let teachers opt out of health benefits if they can recieve them through a spouse.

"Legislature is fully empowered and capable to do something about it and does not need a convention to deflect the heat."

Beck said several times that we need to work through the summer and get this fixed; all of the representatives encouraged a special session or a constitutional convention to work on property taxes. When pressed on a timeline to hold them to, the Assemblywoman reminded us that they're up for reelection in 2007. (No wonder she wants to work all summer on it.)

"You seem like nice young people, but you're politicians. You're liars, as far as I'm concerned."

Ellen Karcher took this one pretty well, and told the citizen in no uncertain terms how she disagreed, having been a champion of ethics for years in Monmouth county. They all made it clear several times that they're working in our interests but they are a grand total of 2.5% of the legislature, and have a lot of uphill climbing to do.

"Whatever you do, people are going to hate."

Several folks were very clear that it was time for legislators to do the right thing, whether or not it was the popular thing. Along those lines, a great deal of attention was paid to regionalization. Panter brought up the need for greater regionalization, the use of a stick as well as a carrot. Nice idea, to praise that to the residents in a regional district- but regionalization hasn't solved all our problems yet. One resident mentioned a recent Times of Trenton editorial about changing to a county-wide district system. Panter in particular felt that regionalization of administrative function would reduce redundancy and costs.

"Things take time. But we don't have time."

I was surprized at how little discussion was done on a shift of school funding from property taxes to income taxes- Panter called the idea "a fiscal shell game." He did tout increasing Developer Impact Fees. Several people commented on how the rebates were "corrosive" and a silly gimmick to buy votes.

"You guys seem on board. Who else do I call?"

Senator Karcher replied, quickly, "I'll give you Wayne Bryant's number." Assemblyman Panter pointed out that if you have a strong opinion, contact your rep., who will give you the names of who else to contact. We were reminded to be loud and consistent with our voices, and we will be heard.


The forum didn't cover much new ground- the discussions have all been had several times over. Probably the most important thing to be brought out of the evening is the reminder that our elected represenatives need to hear from us. A lot. Don't stop there, thought- also the committe chairs, party leaders, and- very, very important- the media. If you support a bill or think an idea is just plain bad, tell them, tell them all, then write a letter to the editor to tell everyone else.

(cross-posted at BlueJersey.net)