Meet The Candidates: How Will Candidates Keep Taxes From Increasing?

MAHWAH, N.J. — Editor's note: The following is the fifth in a six-part series regarding this year's mayoral candidates: Incumbent William Laforet and challengers John Roth and Jonathan Wong. Each candidate was asked six questions and wrote as much as they wanted in response to those questions. Patch is running the candidates' responses to each question.

Question: How do you plan on keeping taxes, and any potential tax increases, as low as possible?

William Laforet, incumbent

I will continue our successful efforts to recruit businesses to Mahwah. Additionally, my administration plans on implementing a more formal process of corporate outreach and retention.

The Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Panel, our innovative approach of involving residents and members of our business community to review our municipal budget and provide budgetary and efficiency recommendations will be continued and expanded over the coming years as well. The input from our community is an essential part of an open and transparent community, as I have demonstrated.

John Roth, challenger

Note: When asked this question, Roth referred Patch to his response to the third question of: What is the township's biggest financial challenge and how will you address it? We have included his answer to that question as his response to the question for this article.

The single largest issue financial facing Mahwah is taxes. How government manages the costs of services delivered (taxes) directly affects the lives of residents and the quality of their lives on many levels. Taxes are determined by two key factors; revenue and expenses. Non-tax revenues are fairly predictable and difficult to increase without imposing new fees or raising existing ones. That is undesirable and counterintuitive to holding costs to residents down.

The key to managing the tax rate is prudent spending, holding the line on expenses and ensuring that every dollar spent is necessary and of benefit to the taxpayer. For 12 years on the Council I have been an ardent cost-costcutter. More than$5 million dollars was taken out of annual budgets by me during that period. In the last four years my proposals reduced each of the mayor’s tax increases from an average of 4 percent to 2.9 percent. Last year I cut his tax increase 55 percent.

Managing expenses without cutting services requires a thorough knowledge of everything we buy to make this town run properly. I have that knowledge and will use it as Mayor to make certain that future budgets fund only must-have expenses versus nice-to-have-ones.

Jonathan Wong, challenger

Long term fiscal planning is essential to keeping taxes and any potential tax increases minimal. Successful planning prepares our Township for any unexpected expenditures. This requires close monitoring of the budget as well as maintaining observation on all of the markets that impact the Township.

We must also contribute to our reserves consistently. This is important because it ensures that we will remain financially stable. In addition, to retain our AAA bond rating from credit rating agencies, we must increase our reserves to surpass the median of other peer AAA jurisdictions. Maintaining our AAA bond rating enables us to finance projects and purchases within the Township at the lowest interest rate. Some of these include road repairs and purchasing essential Township vehicles like ambulances and fire trucks.

Lastly, we must aggressively pursue other opportunities to cut costs and increase revenue. For example, implementing shared service agreements, applying for public and private grants, and potentially leasing the township’s assets and land. We have many corporate as well as small businesses in Mahwah — we must continue to grow strong partnerships with these businesses.

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