Gloucester Township Residents Push Back Against Tax Hike

Gloucester Township, NJ -- Keep going to meetings and get involved.

That was the message the organizers of the Gloucester Township Tax Revolt meeting held Wednesday night had for residents who packed the house at the Knights of Columbus on Empire Avenue.

“You keep asking, ‘What can we do,’” said Tom Crone, one of three organizers who made spoke during the meeting. “You’ve already done it. You’re here for a reason.”

The reason is the township’s 12 percent municipal tax increase, which drew about 250 people to a council meeting on July 25.

Part of the message from those speaking, which also included Gloucester Township Republican Committee Chairman Ray Polidoro and former council candidate Pete Heinbaugh, was to keep going to the meetings.

“They passed this budget back in April, and there were five people from the public there,” Polidoro said, adding that by the time the residents showed up for the July 25 meeting, it was already too late to do anything to change this year’s budget.

“We have the same four or five people asking questions at all the meetings and they just tune us out,” Heinbaugh said. “You need to attend meetings, ask questions and demand an answer.”

In April, township council approved a 12 percent municipal tax hike as part of its $57,950,948 budget. Residents have also seen increases from both school districts and the county.

Polidoro suggested that had residents come out for the public hearing on the budget, they might have been able to make a difference.

Residents who spoke out during Wednesday night’s meeting complained that members of council didn’t respond to their complaints and questions during the nearly three-hour council meeting. Polidoro suggested the key was to keep asking the same question, and to keep attending the regular council meetings on the second and fourth Monday of every month.

Other suggestions from members of the audience include recalling Mayor David Mayer and elected members of council, as well as a mass tax appeal and asking for tax reassessments of their homes.

“If 300 or more people appeal their taxes, they’ll hear that,” the resident suggested.

On more than one occasion, there were calls from the crowd to “throw council members out of office.”

At one point, Polidoro asked if anyone in the crowd was interested in running for mayor, and received a couple of responses, including from a former Libertarian Congressional candidate. Later in the meeting, two more people volunteered to run for council in 2017.

The township previously cited two storms that hit the region over the last year, including a storm that devastated the region last summer and a winter storm in January.

Other reasons for tax increases included a decrease in expected surplus from $4,840,000 to $3,175,830. Salaries and wages increased from $21,919,548.60 to $22,847,883.

The township is $174,722 below the state’s tax cap.

The meeting was organized by the political action group GT United, and residents from both sides of the political aisle were in attendance.

Following the last council meeting, Councilman Dan Hutchison did say the council had to challenge itself to do a better job, and consider how raising taxes will impact a resident who is impoverished.

Council President Orlando Mercado said the township has already begun work on next year’s budget, which he said was “unprecedented.”

Another GT Tax Revolt meeting was tentatively scheduled for Sept. 21. To RSVP to that meeting, or to ask questions, email GTTaxRevolt@yahoo.com.