Message from the Mayor – September 2012

Dear Resident and Property Owner:

I appreciate the opportunity to communicate with residents and provide an explanation of your tax bill and an overall assessment of the financial health of our Township.  This letter is accompanied by your final 2012 property tax bill which has been adjusted since the August estimated tax bill.

Springfield operates on a calendar year budget but several factors, to include our form of government and approval delays at the State level, do not allow for the property tax bill to be finalized in January.  Therefore, the financial impact of our budget and our commitment to stabilizing property taxes and decreased municipal spending are reflected in this quarterly billing and the November 2012, February 2013 and May 2013 quarterly billings.  The municipal budget is the product of hard work and fiscal prudence by our Administrator, Chief Financial Officer, Department heads and it is overseen by the Finance sub-committee members, Committeeman Marc Krauss and Deputy Mayor Jerry Fernandez.  The 2012 municipal budget was approved unanimously and with bi-partisan support – a testament to responsible financial planning and austere economic policies at the Township level.  In fact, this year Standard & Poor’s assigned Springfield a ‘AA+’ credit rating citing our “strong financial operations and position, low debt” and recognized our “conservative management practices.”

Most residents will wonder why, then, are property tax bills increasing?  While the Township collects the taxes, the Township only keeps around 30 cents of each dollar to pay for municipal operations.  Simply put, the Township Committee and I manage only about 30% of the total taxes listed on the enclosed statement.  We send the balance of the money to pay the County for their budget that is prepared by the Freeholders in Elizabeth, N.J. and to the Board of Education for the schools budget.

The portion we can control is a result of increased efficiency and effective management in Town Hall, innovative approaches in providing day-to-day services, increases in revenue generated and prudent planning to reduce expenses. 

The biggest increase in our municipal budget this year can be attributed to our responsible effort to pay down old pension obligations totaling more than  $760,000 that were deferred in 2009 by then-Mayor Bart Fraenkel and former Mayors Hugh Keffer and Ken Faigenbaum.  If we don’t repay this obligation that was kicked down the road to us this year, we will be at the mercy of penalty interest rates exceeding 8 percent.  This budget is one of the leanest in recent history and results in what is most likely the smallest possible impact to your property taxes – doing more with less without sacrificing the level of services residents enjoy and expect.

A few indicators that 2012 is a year of progress:

• January Public Goal-Setting Meeting
• Adopted Pay-to-Play restrictions to curb the perception of improper influence in public contracting and local elections that has taken a toll on Springfield in the past
• Recreation Department restructured to expand programming and resident outreach
• Flood mitigation and relief to include Marion Avenue and Washington Avenue dike restoration
• Public Safety reorganized in Police and Fire Departments resulting in significant salary savings
• Launched a new telephone and e-mail public notification system called Springfield Public Community-Stat and web-based “Citizen Service Request” tool
• Road repaving of twelve of the worst roads, curb installation along Meisel Avenue and traffic calming device installations
• Restored the all-volunteer Springfield Improvement Team
• Hosted historic Town Hall Meeting with Governor
• Contracted for shared services for fire and ambulance emergency dispatch
• Reorganized the Board of Health for increased accountability and oversight
• Expanded municipal access with a new First Aid Squad & Municipal Library parking lot
• Improved Springfield Farmers Market

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me if I can ever be of any assistance.  I thank you for the opportunity to serve you as your Mayor and for the trust and confidence you have placed in me.

Sincerely,

Ziad Andrew Shehady
Mayor