James Imbriaco: A legacy of appeasement, sprawl & higher taxes

Posted on May 11, 2009 by admin

It’s election time in Clinton Township. We expect to hear lofty promises and claims from candidates. Some of these statements are supported with facts; some of them are bull dinky. Don’t believe everything you hear. Look for evidence. Look at the record.

It’s astonishing what some candidates will claim — and even what some newspaper pundits will claim about them.

James Imbriaco is running for Clinton Township Council. The bull dinky starts small, but grows quickly.

“Having spent more than 15 years on the Clinton Township Planning Board, 12 as its chair, I can speak with authority and experience about land use matters and planning in our community.”

James Imbriaco, letter to the editor
Hunterdon Democrat, April 30, 2009

James Imbriaco claims 12 years as chair. It was actually just 10, during January 1997 — January 2007. But what’s a couple of years?

The most lofty of James Imbriaco’s claims is this quote from a newspaper editorial that he cites on his campaign web site.

“I would like to close with a brief quote from an editorial about myself that was published on January 18, 2007 in the Hunterdon democrat. It reads as follows: ‘the Clinton township of today looks much as it did when Mr. Imbriaco took the reigns of planning. Under proper stewardship, it should retain that character for many years to come. For that, for showing how government is supposed to work and for leading by example, we all owe him a great debt.'”

[The word reigns is an interesting slip by an effusive Democrat editor. The correct word is reins. Unless we’re talking about a king.]

The editorial was published in the Democrat soon after Imbriaco was relieved of his planning board chairmanship. The editorial confers a kind of sainthood on James Imbriaco.

“The Clinton Township of today looks much as it did
when Mr. Imbriaco took the reigns of planning.”

But the Hunterdon Democrat knows better. Since Clinton Township was founded in 1841, 25% of its residential growth occured during the 10 years James Imbriaco chaired the planning board. That’s about 1,100 residential units in just 10 years, in a town that has only about 4,400 residences in total.

“For that…, we all owe him a great debt.”

Here is Clinton Township on April 15, 1995 — the villiage of Annandale — two years before James Imbriaco became planning board chairman. At the lower left is Miller’s Tavern. Behind Miller’s and in the middle of the photo is the Annandale Pumpkin Patch. Continue reading →

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Can you do Board of Ed. “math”?

Posted on May 3, 2009 by admin

The only people in the audience at the April 27, 2009 Clinton Township Board of Education (BOE) meeting were Council President (and school liaison) Steve Krommenhoek, Hunterdon Democrat reporter Curtis Leeds, and two residents.

You were not there. Do you know what the BOE is doing? If you do, then you are better at Board of Ed. math than I am. So let’s test you. We’ll try two different kinds of problems to increase your chances of a passing grade.

(This would be an open book test, but there’s nothing for you to refer to — the BOE does not record its meetings and put them online like the Township Council does, so there’s nothing for you to listen to. The most recent BOE meeting minutes available online are from January 12, 2009 — so there are no notes to check. As always, you’re on your own.)

PROBLEM #1: Which number is bigger?
Read the following information carefully. (Hey, turn off the iPod… pay attention.)

A. The BOE hired a new Business Administrator (BA). At her last job, the BA was earning $91,000. The BOE gave her a 19% raise at $108,000. As part of her employment, the BOE assigned the BA to perform certain administrative duties for Lebanon Boro schools as well. (This is called shared services.) The BOE charges Lebanon around $20,000 for those services. The BOE gives $17,000 of that revenue to the BA as extra salary. The BA’s salary is now $125,000, or a 37% raise. (You weren’t at the meeting, nor was I, but this is how the BOE explained it. If someone misunderstood, I don’t want any flak from the BOE until it publishes an audio record of its proceedings online. Sorry, guys, but if you can afford to give a $34,000 raise to someone making $91,000, you can afford to buy simple recording equipment. Nah-nah — don’t tell me you’d rather spend our tax dollars “on the kids.”) Continue reading →

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Clinton Township Court to Critics: GO TO JAIL

Posted on April 30, 2009 by admin

A shout-out to Tom Borkowski & Spencer Peck: “We told you so!”

When the Township Council took action to start its own municipal court in 2007, the naysayers came out of the woodwork. Spencer “Big Hat” Peck had a brilliant alternative (he was running for mayor): Clinton Township should save money! Use the county’s courthouse!

Yah. Send people to Flemington for court. Send our cops to Flemington to attend court — and pay them to drive back and forth? Insane!

Former Mayor Tom Borkowski told us to keep trying to negotiate with the North Court. Don’t leave! It’s a mistake! You will never succeed!

Even Judge Edward Martin told newspapers that Clinton Township’s Court was doomed to failure. (We declined to hire him. Who needs a naysayer in the business?)

The results are in. Lucky we didn’t sit on our hands like Borkowski did for years. Had his buddy Peck gotten elected, our court staff would be carpooling and singing “Here come da Judge!”

Here’s the editorial in today’s Democrat:

Hunterdon County Democrat
April 30, 2009

Bigger Isn’t Cheaper

We watch the state encourage small school districts to merge with larger ones and Trenton officials argue that local governments would save money by sharing more services. While there is often an economy of scale, Clinton Township is showing us that’s not always the case.

For years, township officials sought to change the rules that governed the 10 members of the North Hunterdon Municipal Court, but only had one of the 10 votes on the committee managing the court. In the end, no agreement could be reached on Clinton Township’s proposals to reduce administrative costs and change the way fixed costs were shared, so the township quit that court and created its own. That was more than a year ago.

Clinton Township wasn’t alone in bailing out of the North court. When Califon decided to pay for police coverage from Washington Township in Morris County, it also switched to Washington’s court. Even without Clinton Township and Califon, North Hunterdon Municipal Court remains the state’s largest.

So how did things work out for Clinton Township? The last year the township was a member of the North court, the township lost about $70,000, despite $260,000 in ticket revenue. In 2008, the township’s own court ended up $200,000 in the black.

But there’s more. Union Township recently started using Clinton Township’s court, further offsetting operating costs.

North Hunterdon Municipal Court has gone through many changes since it was created in the 1960s. Over time, we think they’ll re-examine its members’ needs. In that way, everyone will ultimately benefit from Clinton Township’s initiative.

Kudos to our Municipal Court staff and judge!

Read more:
Hunterdon Review
Hunterdon Democrat

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Windy Acres slated for affordable housing, open space

Posted on April 28, 2009 by admin

Last Wednesday night the Clinton Township Council took action to subdivide the 292-acre Windy Acres property into open space and for affordable housing use.

25 acres will be set aside for future affordable housing, to be used as necessary under COAH’s 3rd-round growth share rules. Such units will be built only if the town grows. (Hence the term, growth share.)

12 acres will be set aside as developable land, to be used as the town sees fit in the future. Both these parcels are situated on Main Street off of Route 22.

These are the only lands suitable for development on the site. A Category 1 stream cuts off the rest of Windy Acres from access. The land slated for affordable housing is the same land Pulte originally proposed for that purpose. Pulte’s failure to obtain permits to build its proposed 1,160 units was largely due to the stream crossing problem which remains a problem today.

The balance of the land — 255 acres — will be open space. Once the subdivision is done, the Township will be able to apply for open space and Green Acres funds from the County and the State. By designating the most environmentally sensitive areas as open space, the Township can maximize the opportunity to obtain funds to offset the cost of acquiring the entire property. Clinton Township bought Windy Acres for $7 million on December 31, 2008 after friendly negotiations with Pulte Homes, which originally paid $13.7 million for the land. $4 million came from the Township’s existing open space fund. The balance will be paid to Pulte over two years without interest.

The Hunterdon County Parks System has had Windy Acres at the top of its “wish list” for over ten years. The plan has been to turn Windy Acres into a County Park.

Freeholder Erik Peterson encouraged the Council to acquire the property last year, making a personal commitment to support funding from the County. The question now is, how much will the County put in?

Clinton Township property taxpayers have already contributed approximately $6.8 million to the County Open Space fund, with very little of that money coming back to the Township over the years. It’s time for the County Freeholders to be a major partner in the acquisition of Windy Acres, not just a minor contributor.

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Clinton Twp budget rejected: Board has no credibility

Posted on April 22, 2009 by admin

After approving the North Hunterdon High School District budget yesterday, Clinton Township voters once again rejected the Clinton Township School District (CTSD) budget, 824:793.

Why? Because the CTSD Board of Education (BOE) has no credibility among voters and taxpayers. There seem to be two specific issues that lead to budget rejection not just this year, but every year.

First, voters rejected the budget because the CTSD Board of Education (BOE) wastes taxpayer dollars without compunction. It’s not clear what’s more obvious: the trend, or the BOE’s audacity.

On April 6, the CTSD BOE hired Patricia Leonhardt as its new Business Administrator at a salary of $125,000. Leonhardt’s current salary at South Bound Brook is $90,915. That’s a 37% salary boost. Nice deal if you can get it in today’s economy — and in New Jersey’s property tax climate.

To make appearances worse, Leonhardt serves on the DelVal High BOE, which in rapid succession hired former CTSD Superintendent Elizabeth Nastus and former CTSD Business Administrator Daria Wasserbach. Leonhardt voted to hire Nastus in May 2008 and six months later voted to hire Wasserbach in November 2008. The Hunterdon Review (April 15, 2009) reports that Leonhardt and Wasserbach are old friends — they attended the same classes to obtain their professional certifications. Leonhardt votes to hire Wasserbach then takes Wasserbach’s vacated position. Continue reading →

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COAH under siege

Posted on April 13, 2009 by admin

20 towns joined forces in 2008 to file suit against the New Jersey Council On Affordable Housing (COAH). Are these locals opposed to “affordables” living in their towns?

Quite the contrary. All 20 towns are in compliance with COAH’s rules and have filed appropriate plans to comply with NJ’s affordable housing law. In other words, they are building the affordable housing they are supposed to.

So, what’s up? COAH’s goofy new rules penalize towns for being in compliance. New, retroactive obligations are being created — if your town thought it had ponied up the required units, the new rules recalculate the numbers and presto! you owe more units.

These new obligations are based on the number of jobs a town is projected to develop over the next ten years and on projections of overall development. While COAH claims towns only have to build affordable units if they grow, it’s not as simple as that. To get protection from lawsuits by builders seeking to overturn a town’s entire zoning, the town must submit a comprehensive COAH plan for the future. No plan,  no protection.

COAH says, “You’re not obligated to submit a plan!” Yah, but COAH empowers builders to sue if there’s no plan. So for all practical purposes, a COAH plan is obligatory. At a potential cost of $50,000 or more, it’s also a budget-shattering cost for many towns. But the problem is far worse. Continue reading →

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