Issues - Preserving Our Towns

The government that governs best is the one that is closest to the people. That conclusion has been proven true time and time again, and continues to be the case throughout New Jersey. As a former mayor, I know our municipal governments are among our most efficient, well-run governments, and they are more accountable and responsive to the voters.

Our towns, however, are under assault by the central planners and bureaucrats in Trenton who do not realize these facts and believe they know how to run our towns and govern our lives better than we do.

Our towns, however, are under assault by the central planners and bureaucrats in Trenton who do not realize these facts and believe they know how to run our towns and govern our lives better than we do. They are trying to force our towns to merge, and their unfunded mandates, coupled with overly burdensome dictates, handcuff our mayors and councils while forcing increased costs and ever-higher property taxes. In fact, the central planners have restricted the ability of mayors and councils to cut property taxes.

While some want to merge our towns and would prefer New Jersey be made into a collection of big cities, you and I know that their way will only lead to more bureaucracy, wasteful spending, and higher taxes. Smaller governments with less bureaucracy operate more efficiently and in a less costly manner than the larger governments Trenton seeks to create.

We must preserve our towns and restore those local elected officials to their rightful positions so they can perform the duties they were elected to perform. Trenton bureaucrats must be taken out of the way and told to remove the handcuffs from our local officials. Furthermore, the residents of our towns must be permitted to have a meaningful say in how their towns are governed.

When elected governor, I will, among other things, reduce the number of unnecessary and burdensome unfunded mandates upon our towns, end binding arbitration, and eliminate COAH. These are the meaningful actions that need to be taken so we can preserve our towns and lower our property taxes.