Letter: Suit Over County Tax Likely

Ed Vant, Jr., secretary of Summit Taxpayers Association, released the following open letter by STA President Tom Garvey to Summit Common Council regarding Union County taxes.

To: Members of Summit City Council

The Summit Taxpayers Association (STA) is a non profit and non partisan organization whose purpose is to advocate for fiscally responsible government and whose mission is to reduce the rate of property tax increase to zero within three years, by 2014.

The STA wishes to commend the Summit School Board and Summit School Board of Estimates for their efforts to provide a superior education experience for Summit school students while at the same time managing the school budget in a fiscally responsible manner. The STA commends the Summit City council too for their efforts on fiscal restraint and also for making a concerted effort to participate in a meaningful dialog with Union County regarding their total lack of good judgment and common sense while spending taxpayer money.

We continue to encourage more transparency and fiscal discipline in two important areas. First, our school and city debt continues to grow and appears to be an orphan when it comes to reporting.

This explains why a school budget initially advertised as having a zero increase actually rose by 1.74% after including debt service. Second, the municipal budget snapshot continues to improve but remains inadequate as an effective tool to manage the finances of our beautiful City which has a budget including nearly a quarter billion dollars of spending and debt.

The solution is to provide a comprehensive (City, School & County) preliminary budget estimate by the fourth quarter of each fiscal year. This preliminary budget should include a critical fact sheet which details major budget line items such as total debt & debt service, pension obligations, planned capital expenditures etc. Most important is an effort to provide a five year forward looking projection for these major expense drivers.

The purpose of my remarks tonight is to make a specific call for action regarding the Union County tax levy as follows:

Where as; 

Union County spending is completely out of control as evidenced by their ignoring the governors 2% nominal spending cap, increasing Summit residents tax levy by 10.94%, voting life time health benefits to employees which will cost taxpayers over $50MM (estimate). These same benefits are not available to most taxpayers or to our own city workers. For some perspective, the average NJ resident pays $1,802 in state income tax and the average Summit resident pays more than twice this amount or $3,999 in Union County tax alone.

Union County borrowing is completely out of control as evidenced by growing County debt which now totals over $556 MM and is up $154.7MM and 38% over the past 5 years. This debt does not include an additional $150 MM in lease obligations which require payments of $12.9MM per year.

Union County accountability is completely out of control as evidenced by their ignoring 3 months of personal appearances and petitions from members of Summit City Council and providing no audit-able documentation or receipts of any kind to support tax levy demands totaling almost $32 MM per year.

Therefore, the Summit Taxpayers Association requests that Summit City Council pass a resolution calling for the withholding and escrow of 1/2 of the Union County Open Space Tax (approx $521 M) levied for 2012. The argument for this request is outlined above but is also grounded in the belief the Open Space fund and tax levy are currently being used for purposes other than originally intended when approved. We also recommend Summit Council approve money to be used for a legal defense of this action.

After Mr. Garvey's remarks Summit City Council voted 5-1 to continue to pay the County Open Space tax.  Several council members spoke openly that their vote was based on "preliminary" legal advice but further legal review is warranted.  I believe we have not heard the last of the legal debate to withhold and escrow the Union County Open Space tax.

The STA anticipates future litigation of the Open Space tax and ensuing discovery of facts will broaden resulting in disclosure of even larger acts of fiscal irresponsibility by Union County.  

Taxpayers can regain control of our County Government but to do so we must be willing to ........ follow the money!          

 

Respectfully,

Thomas M. Garvey

President, Summit Taxpayers Association