Tax Cap

TRENTON - To impose a 2 percent cap on property-tax increases without addressing what drives up government spending is "the tail wagging the dog," Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt told an Assembly panel on Wednesday. Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley concurred, warning lawmakers, "The order we're doing this in is not the best way. " The Assembly Budget Committee heard testimony from representatives of towns, schools, and public employees who repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of the 2 percent cap agreement reached Saturday by Gov. Christie and legislative leaders.

Lori Grifa will step down next month as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, concluding a nearly two-year tenure that involved guiding towns on a new 2 percent cap on property-tax increases and overseeing changes in affordable-housing policies. Grifa said Monday that she would return to the law firm Wolff & Samson, where David Samson, the former state attorney general for whom she was chief of staff in 2002 and 2003, is a founding member. Taking her place is state Deputy Labor Commissioner Richard Constable, who served as a prosecutor with Gov. Christie when he was U.S. attorney and handled public corruption cases.

Lori Grifa will step down next month as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, concluding a nearly two-year tenure that involved guiding towns on a new 2 percent cap on property-tax increases and overseeing changes in affordable-housing policies. Grifa said Monday that she would return to the law firm Wolff & Samson, where David Samson, the former state attorney general for whom she was chief of staff in 2002 and 2003, is a founding member. Taking her place is state Deputy Labor Commissioner Richard Constable, who served as a prosecutor with Gov. Christie when he was U.S. attorney and handled public corruption cases.

The Warminster Board of Supervisors has approved a $9.26 million preliminary budget for 1988 that would hold the line on taxes for the second year in a row. The budget called for the overall tax rate to remain at 31.25 mills per $1,000 of assessed valuation. At that rate, a homeowner whose property is assessed at the township average of $7,000 would pay $218.75 in taxes next year. The $9.26 million preliminary budget is $1.84 million less than last year's total budget of $11.1 million.

In regards to your Barnes Foundation editorial (July 8), you appear to be saying Lincoln University got one bite at the apple and screwed up, so it doesn't deserve another chance. That's pretty harsh, isn't it? Since the early 1970s, when universities began aggressively recuiting talented minorities, historically black colleges like Lincoln University have seen their best and brightest A+ students siphoned off by the Penns of the world, while their A- and B+ students are lured away by the Penn States.

TRENTON - Criminal enterprises will flourish in one of America's poorest and most dangerous cities - and reach into neighboring towns - if plans to lay off half the police force take effect, a Camden police union leader told lawmakers Monday. "All hell will break loose," Fraternal Order of Police lodge president John Williamson testified at a hearing of the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee. Up to 180 officers could lose their jobs if the city cannot negotiate concessions in contracts to help plug a $28 million budget deficit.

Hospital plans are dangerous Temple University Health Systems will eliminate inpatient and emergency services at Northeastern Hospital by June 30 and transform it into an ambulatory care center. This will leave the neighborhoods of Port Richmond, Bridesburg, and Fishtown with limited access to valuable health services needed for survival. I realize the mayor and City Council are involved in heated budget discussions, but do they even have an opinion on something that can potentially lead to the complete deterioration of neighborhoods?

Political ideas that seem swell in Washington often bomb the moment they move beyond the Beltway. Nothing better illustrates this phenomenon than the rage for letting the federal government "fix" the nation's health-care system. Rep. Jim Cooper, an ambitious Democrat from Tennessee, recently flew to Dallas to pitch his reform plan to 100 state directors and chairs for the Ross Perot-inspired United We Stand America. Cooper is Washington's hottest political property because he pitted his proposal against the Clinton leviathan and won. The surest sign of his success appeared when business lobbies jumped on the bandwagon in early February.

From the perspective of Trenton observer Bill Dressel, everybody's gone to sleep at the Statehouse since the July passage of a 2 percent tax cap. But among local officials? "It's bedlam," said Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities. While the Democratic-controlled Legislature has taken minimal action on the so-called tool kit of proposals designed to help local governments keep property-tax increases under the new limit, lawmakers are facing pressure - from the governor's office to township halls - to get moving.

Haddon Heights education officials will ask voters to approve a spending plan Tuesday that would raise taxes to spare jobs in the schools and save numerous sports programs and student activities. The Camden County district and five in Gloucester County are among only 73 statewide that declined New Jersey's recent, first-time offer to move their elections to November. More than 85 percent of the state's elected boards went for the change, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association.