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5-30-2023 8:54am
Your Weekly Update: A Week in Review of the WW Town Council, by Supriya Mamidi
The Town Council meeting began with Mayor Marathe’s State of the Township Address. The 2023 municipal budget was altered by the Council to consider community preferences in infrastructure and pedestrian safety improvements. Fortune magazine ranked West Windsor as the 11th best place to live in America. Had BP8 been built, it would have affected our ranking.
The mayor quotes Janice Mironov, mayor of East Windsor and says that there is no “methodology” for Affordable Housing (AH) .
From former Mayor Hsueh’s 2022 Address, Hseuh says, “during the current (3rd Round) FSHC demanded that West Windsor’s obligation for Affordable housing (AH) was 2200 units. This was by far the highest obligation in Mercer County. Mayor Hsueh’s calculation showed WW’s obligation to be around 1100 units. The case was argued in front of Judge Jacobson in Mercer County Superior Court. The court appointed an expert, paid for by West Windsor, to calculate the number of units WW needs to build in the current round. The expert calculated the number closer to the West Windsor’s assertion of about 1100 units. Judge Jacobson did not choose to follow the recommendation of the expert she appointed and instead ruled that West Windsor’s obligation was around 1500 units.
The mayor says there can be an “honest” conversation about the meaning of Affordable Housing once there is an understanding of how Jacobson chose 1500.
Council adopted Ordinance 2023-04 which allows Council to establish a cap bank that goes up to 3.5%. John Mauder, assistant Certified Municipal Finance Officer (CMFO) says, “the cap is a management tool that allows you to increase your appropriations.”
Mauder did a 2023 budget presentation. This year’s budget increased from last year and is allocated to total salary and wages budgets, total other expenses, capital improvement funds, sewer improvements, group health insurance, Police & Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS) pensions, Planning Board litigation, and grants.
The majority of the budget will be spent by Public Safety, Insurance, and Stony Brook Sewage Authority departments and on statutory requirements.
Local tax for municipal purposes is 51.57%, surplus is predicted to be around 18.59%, and local tax is 10.28% of the budget revenue.
Mauder ended by saying that “there’s a zero percent property tax rate increase and it still maintains a full service community.”
WW does not receive enough funds for their municipal budget from the federal government to counter the cost of inflation.
After the hearing, the Council adopted the budget.
The Council approved resolutions 2023-R103, 2023-R104, 2023- R105, 2023- R106, 2023-R107, 2023- R108, 2023- R109, and 2023- R110.
Sonia Gawas, Councilwoman recaps the most recent EC meeting.
Andrea Mandel, Councilwoman recaps the Diversity Day event.
On May 9, the Board of Education awarded Educators of the Year and there was also a public hearing on using computers, computer networks, and resources appropriately.
Akash Nayak won the Louis Bay 2nd Future Municipal Leader Scholarship Award.
A new sidewalk is being built on Cranbury Road.
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