Letter to the Editor: Keffer on "Sewer Tax" Vote

Here is the other half of the story.

In 2010, after being defeated in the election, but before leaving office, Mr. Shehady with the help of Mr. Fernandez and Mr. Kraus, voted to repeal the sewer tax. The purpose of the repeal ordinance was to leave an estimated $1.9 million budget short fall for the 2011 calendar year. At the same time, Mr. Shehady and Mr. Fernandez hired eight new police officers at a total cost to taxpayers of about $500,000.

When I asked Mr. Fernandez whether or not he had researched the consequence of the repeal, he said, “No.” There was no business purpose to this action. The only conclusion I could reach is that it was done because Mr. Shehady lost the election.

Rather than repeal the ordinance, I asked our CFO to prepare a budget analysis to confirm the numbers. Separately, I asked our Township Administrator to contact the Department of Community Affairs, Local Finance Board,in order to get a ruling in favor of Springfield to allow the repeal to stay in place.

By April, we had a letter from DCA that allowed the repeal to stay in effect. We passed the 2011 budget without undoing the repeal ordinance and Mr. Fernandez voted against the 2011 budget. That’s the full story.

You can say that I voted against the December 2010 ordinance, but in the end, I voted in favor of the repeal after we knew the impact of the repeal on the budget and kept the repeal from turning into a devastating budget gap. Ultimately, the Committee did its job with knowledge of the consequences of its actions and not out of spite for having lost an election. 

Hugh