Every week, The Sun will ask candidates in the Nov. 4 election for council seats to respond to questions pertinent to local issues. This week’s questions:
1.) What are some new ideas or approaches that you can bring to Town Council, and how will they benefit the town?
2.) Do you believe the township should expand its open space initiative by purchasing more properties, or focus on maintaining the open space it already owns?
Dan Rosenberg
1. What are some new ideas or approaches that you can bring to Town Council, and how will they benefit the town?
During this campaign, my running mate, Carol Murphy, and I have offered a series of reforms to improve Mt. Laurel. We believe that saying you will lower taxes and spending is not enough. In the past three years, the council has raided $15 million from the taxpayers’ surplus, and that’s why we have presented substantive ideas to make government more efficient and affordable. Mt. Laurel is facing a crossroads — are we going to be affordable or join many of our neighbors that have priced out middle-class families?
Accountability and transparency at town hall are the foundation of our plan that would incorporate a series of reforms, which will put key financial records online for public scrutiny, and require tough independent audits to save taxpayer money. Further, we need to identify cost-saving alternatives to rebuild our surplus, and have proposed smart shared-service agreements, third-party purchasing and spending discipline at town hall to provide property tax relief.
We need innovative solutions in local government, and by implementing community action teams, we can get advice from residents about the challenges they face. For example, residents tell us that they received no communication from local government during snowstorms. First, by creating a social media presence, township government can update residents about critical information daily, including during a snowstorm. Second, I have proposed seeking private sector assistance to establish a township snow plan route map similar to the PSE&G outage map. This would provide residents with real-time snow plowing route information to help set realistic expectations to plan their day. It may not be feasible to plow any faster, but residents must be given enough information to make informed decisions.
Smart, simple and proactive steps can make Mt. Laurel work better, and if elected I will work tirelessly to achieve real progress.
2. Do you believe the township should expand its open space initiative by purchasing more properties, or focus on maintaining the open space it already owns?
The quality of our drinking water is protected by a strong open space and farmland preservation program. I’m a big supporter of the statewide ballot question this fall that would commit existing revenue without raising taxes to open space and farmland preservation.
When we make local decisions in terms of expanding or maintaining open space, we have a responsibility to address the financial impacts on Mt. Laurel residents.
The raiding of more than $15 million from the budget surplus by the Mt. Laurel Council in the past three years makes me gravely concerned that they have pushed us into a scenario where each and every decision must be made through a stricter financial prism. While I wholeheartedly support maintaining open space and farmland preservation, we must take a closer look at purchasing new properties that could result in massive tax hikes.
The council’s reckless use of the budget surplus rather than seeking cost-saving alternatives requires all local government investments to face tougher scrutiny. As your councilman, I know our decisions have to be based on how to ensure that your property tax bills aren’t going to price you out of our great community. I will fight to ensure that state and county open space and farmland preservation programs focus on Mt. Laurel, but will not support expansion of buying additional properties until we financially can afford it.
On council, my support for open space and farmland preservation will be unwavering, but I will do so with a fiscally responsible eye on the bottom line because it is your money. Together, by putting local government on a more responsible course, I know we can make Mt. Laurel even better.
Dennis Riley
1. What are some new ideas or approaches that you can bring to Town Council, and how will they benefit the town?
Our local elected officials have done a great job outlining long-range plans for open space and local finances. My running mate, Rich Van Noord, and I feel that our unique private sector experience can be utilized in concert with local resident input to put together a holistic long-range strategy for Mt. Laurel that focuses on providing property tax relief and identifying our community’s shared priorities to plan for a better future.
Residents would be invited to participate in local meetings and provided a convenient outlet on our website to share their opinions on what services and infrastructure improvements we should focus on. With an eye to affordability, Rich and I will work to expand recreation programs, provide vital services to our seniors, preserve our existing open space and protect more, enhance public safety, improve our roads and maintain our township property. A long-range forecast on our shared community priorities will help us determine the most cost-effective means to provide more for our residents at a lower cost to taxpayers.
That would include maximizing shared services with Burlington County government, our school district and our neighboring communities to give our residents the best bang for their buck and make our local government more efficient. Giving our residents a seat at the table will not only foster collaboration and a common purpose for our community, but will generate new and innovative ideas to make government more affordable, accountable and efficient. I look forward to working with local leaders, community stakeholders and a diverse group of residents to develop a 10-year plan to make Mt. Laurel an even bett
2. Do you believe the township should expand its open space initiative by purchasing more properties, or focus on maintaining the open space it already owns?
I believe that preserving and maintaining open space is fundamentally tied to not only our quality of life, but how we can continue to make Mt. Laurel affordable. The steps taken by the current mayor and council to aggressively preserve open space have helped to minimize development, overcrowding and the need to increase property taxes to provide additional services and infrastructure to accommodate additional housing. We can do more to utilize our existing open space to help make Mt. Laurel a better place for our families. By designating the current space we have, we can provide diverse opportunities for our residents to enjoy the outdoors and help attract quality businesses to become part of our community.
If we take steps to preserve additional open space, Rich Van Noord and I feel the voters should have the ultimate authority through a public vote. We will also engage local residents in providing their input on open space utilization, preservation and maintenance as part of our long-range plan for Mt. Laurel. We will also work with federal, state and county government to provide for additional safe corridors for pedestrians and bikes.
Carol Murphy
1. What are some new ideas or approaches that you can bring to Town Council, and how will they benefit the town?
I’m quite proud that in this campaign, my running mate, Dan Rosenberg, and I have proposed new ideas and fresh approaches to improve Mt. Laurel. Often, candidates talk about making government more efficient and affordable, but we have presented real plans to reverse course of a council that raided $15 million from the budget surplus in the past three years with real reform.
Our plan starts with accountability and transparency at town hall by incorporating a series of reforms that will put key financial records online for public scrutiny, and have called for tough independent audits to save taxpayer money. Further, with smart shared-service agreements, third-party purchasing and spending discipline at town hall, we will be able to rebuild the surplus and deliver property tax relief to residents.
Improving township services requires taking a proactive approach. That’s why I believe it is the responsibility of the council to engage residents, listen to their ideas about what is best for Mt. Laurel and put an end to governing without listening. By establishing a social media platform to inform residents daily about vital information in our town, and the creation of community action teams, we will restore the community’s voice in our township government.
It is truly important to me that we bring together our community of neighborhoods to ensure that their voices are always heard at town hall, and the council’s decisions best reflect the needs of our neighbors. These simple reforms embrace working smarter, more effectively, more efficiently and we will be able to accomplish real progress without increasing costs on taxpayers.
Together, we can make Mt. Laurel an even better place to call home.
2. Do you believe the township should expand its open space initiative by purchasing more properties, or focus on maintaining the open space it already owns?
As a huge proponent of efforts to protect the quality of our drinking water through open space and farmland preservation, this will always be an important priority of mine on council. In fact, I have been a vocal advocate of the statewide ballot question this fall that would commit existing revenue without raising taxes to open space and farmland preservation. In terms of expanding or maintaining our local open space focus, we must address the financial impacts on residents.
The expansion of open space and farmland preservation programs must recognize the impact on property taxpayers. Our council has been reckless with our tax dollars by raiding $15 million from the budget surplus in the past three years, and this impacts virtually every decision we will make until our fiscal house is back in order. I fully support maintaining our open space, but will not support expanding the purchase of properties if that added burden would result in massive tax hikes during the short-term. The council has made a habit of spending money that they don’t have, and I want to ensure that smart financial decisions are made because the financial challenges we face are serious and require thoughtful solutions.
My support for open space and farmland preservation is a deeply held conviction, but as your councilwoman, my pledge is that every decision made will consider the financial impact on all of us in Mt. Laurel because it is your money. I love Mt. Laurel, and together, I know we can make Mt. Laurel an even better place to live, work and play.
Rich Van Noord
1. What are some new ideas or approaches that you can bring to Town Council, and how will they benefit the town?
As the father of two girls with experience owning my own business, I understand that planning for the future is the only way to effectively manage your finances.
We all make tough decisions to save up for a family vacation, buy a new car or ensuring our children will have enough money to go to college. Long-range planning is a common-sense principle that can ensure that government is properly utilizing taxpayer dollars with a vision toward a brighter future for our township. It’s important that a diverse cross-section of residents, community leaders, local business owners and folks with financial expertise are brought together to establish what that vision would entail and how we can responsibly provide more to our residents with the lowest cost to the families and seniors who call Mt. Laurel home.
Dennis Riley and I have the real world experience necessary to examine every facet of local government to promote efficiency and save taxpayers money. Some of the routine operations of government can be performed in a more affordable way for taxpayers if we partner with local leaders from other towns, the county and our schools to provide crucial services. My background in health care gives me the experience to look for ways to pool with other government entities to lower costs and direct those savings back to local taxpayers. Our long-range plan would have two major goals: One is to provide property tax relief by making government more efficient, and the other is to outline a 10-year vision with community input on how we can improve the quality of life for our residents.
Step one is to give every resident the ability to provide their feedback and ideas, both through public meetings and on the web. As fathers who work full time to provide for our families, we understand how many residents don’t have the time to attend meetings and workshops to participate in developing a long-range plan. That is why we will give residents the option to provide their feedback 24 hours a day on our website to ensure that their voice is heard.
Together, we can keep Mt. Laurel moving in the right direction and plan for a brighter, more affordable future for our families.
2. Do you believe the township should expand its open space initiative by purchasing more properties, or focus on maintaining the open space it already owns?
Mt. Laurel has an extensive track record of preserving large tracks of open space to keep our community’s character intact and protect against overdevelopment. As part of our 10-year plan, we want to work with residents and community stakeholders to identify the best designation for our existing open space that will provide more family activities for our residents to enjoy. Proper utilization of preserved open space will help to increase home values and attract small businesses to our town that will offset residential property taxes.
As planning board members, Dennis Riley and I understand how to preserve the character of our community while enhancing the services we offer our residents. There are very few parcels of land that would qualify for preservation, and we believe acquiring additional open space properties should be approved by the voters.
One of our long-range goals will be to make larger portions of our community accessible through safe pedestrian and bike trails to encourage healthy lifestyles for our families.
