Seniors Up in Arms Over Taxes, Mayor Comments

As a seniors columnist, I've talked to many senior citizens with interesting stories. Despite coming from different walks of life and having varied perspectives, there are invariably two things upon which most seniors agree. The first is that Cranford is a wonderful town to live in, with a small-town sensibility like nowhere else in the state.

The second is that property taxes for the residents of Cranford are outrageous.

"People typically consider that all of their money is (being used) to run the municipal government (since) we're the face of the collected taxes," said Mayor Mark Smith. "Only slightly more than a quarter of it is attributable to the municipal portion of that bill. People may tend to lose sight of that."

For seniors at the Cranford Community Center, taxes are a hot button issue. Judy Mastriano summed it up as being between a rock and a hard place. 

"For seniors, it's going to be harder and harder to stay in this town, because of the rising cost of everything," she said. "And no cost of living increase in our Social Security? Not a good situation." 

Paying to Keep Up Quality of Schools
Almost all of the seniors I spoke with were in accord that investing in the schools via tax dollars is money well-spent. 

"Our kids all grew up here. It's a good town if you've got children, because the school system is excellent," said Mastriano.

"But that means we're subsidizing those people (who have school-age children in Cranford). Is that fair?"  said Marilyn Prinz, checking in members with Judy Mastriano at the Thursday Seniors' Meeting. "Look, if you live on Social Security, you've got to give up something to pay these high taxes. And taxes are only increasing (each year.)"

"Perceived quality is important in (terms of schools)," said Smith. "We take a lot of pride in our schools, they're an important part of the community.  If you start to have problems with schools' perceived quality, it affects the town." 

About 55 percent of the tax bill goes to the Board of Education, and only 17 percent to the county, said Smith.

"There are a lot of schools," said Carolyn Perdek. Cranford currently has one high school, a middle school, five elementary schools, and an alternative school.

Perdek, a 40-year Cranford resident, felt that even though the town is wise to infuse tax money into a quality school system, it still won't be enough to make Cranford appealing to new home-owners. 

"Well, it would be hard, especially for young families, to buy a home in Cranford because the taxes are so high," she said.

Development for Tax Relief
One new source of tax funding would be provided by the Riverfront Development project. Many residents are opposed to the plan, but not Perdek. 

"Some people don't like the idea, but I would love to see them go up. I'd like to see more condos in Cranford."

While some feel it could lead to overcrowding, traffic and parking problems, she does not. "No, I'm not as worried about those things, although flooding might be an issue in that area."

As to the additional revenue projected to be garnered by the proposed Riverfront Development, Mayor Smith says, "It will be a tremendous boost to the town - the value of the project is in the neighborhood of $35 to $40 million."

But more residents come with more needs. The town's Master Plan on growth & development/land use says, "Future growth (is) not to exceed the capacity of the township to provide facilities, utilities, and services."

"I believe that the project's tax revenues will more than cover any increased services," said Smith. "The developer is footing the bill for upgraded sewerage capacity along South Street. Cranford's police department has done studies of traffic and parking and does not see either as a problem. 29 new public parking spaces are being created by the developer, and the township is not funding any additional parking."

"This is a very different model from the one at Cranford Crossing which resulted in the township footing the bill for roughly 200 additional spaces (93 existed in the Blockbuster lot prior to the project) at a cost, I believe of $5 million, exclusive of interest costs," he said.

Besides the school system, the town's taxes also pay for some services important to the senior lifestyle. 

Where the Money Goes
"There is transportation for seniors – they bring people from the senior apartments to go shopping and to come here," said Perdek.  "This place (the community center) is also covered by taxes… although we do have to pay for our own garbage and things like that, so we don't get a break that way."

Many of the seniors at the meeting have lived in town for decades, and all of them remember a time when life was simpler, and taxes were lower. 

"When we bought the house, my property taxes were $295.00 a year," said Rosemarie Mack. "I said to my husband, 'Oh, God… we're not gonna make it.' And look how high they are now. How can you pay such high tax when you've also got to (pay to maintain) your home, fix things that break down?  I'm a widow now.  It's hard."

"Taxes are very high here," said Frank Mastriano. "I think I read somewhere that Cranford is the 10th highest in the state. (Note: According to Smith, the ranking of Cranford is more likely mid-range.) And they go up every year."

He said that when he moved to Cranford 45 years ago, it was a very different story.  "Then again, back then, you bought your house real cheap. I only paid $21,000.00 for my house and now it's worth over $500,00.00."

I suggested that if property values had skyrocketed in this way, it's likely that every town in New Jersey and maybe across the nation is experiencing an escalation in tax rates. 

"And Obama wants you to pay more tax now. With all we already pay.  He wants to share the wealth – your wealth," said Frank.

Even though most people appreciate that residents must pay taxes to cover essential services, all of the people I spoke to seemed to feel that there must be a way to, at the least, stop increasing tax rates, if not to actually reduce them.

"They froze Social Security this year," said Frank. "How do you like that? The taxes go up and they don't give you more money. How do we manage it?"

But as the mayor sees it, the infrastructure of the town is efficient, and taxpayers really do get their money's worth.  

"When you look at what exactly the municipal portion of the taxes cover, it's actually a pretty good deal for $2,200 (the approximate amount of taxpayers' funds that goes to municipal government): police, fire, department of public works services, sewer, the library, community center, parking and the flood project." 

Although residents do pay quite a bit, "probably about $9,000 on average (per household)," said Smith, it really may be more a matter of the public not having an itemized receipt, so to speak, which may lead to misconceptions.

"In Westfield, they send out something (to the taxpayers) to the effect of a breakdown of where taxes actually go. This is something we should (consider) – we can slip it in with the tax bill as an explanation of the taxes."

There are also the rising, so-called "fixed costs" bundled into the tax bill, over which the town has no control.

"(There is) a perception that we have a lot more control over the tax bill than we do," said Smith. "We have so many fixed costs (that increase every year), like multi-year labor contracts, health insurance and pension payments, that's 65 percent of the budget. Last year our debt service went up 8 percent; this year it will go up again."

Cutting back may mean getting rid of the services Cranford residents have come to expect.

"You're forced to make difficult choices," said Smith.