Manchester Mayor Urges Residents To Join Him In Letter Campaign

MANCHESTER, NJ — Reducing the property tax burden and improving a section of Route 70 are topics that Manchester Township Mayor Kenneth Palmer says need to be addressed.

In an attempt to get some action on the issues, Palmer is urging Manchester Township residents to add their voice to his through a letter-writing campaign.

Links to three template letters are on the township's website:

1. Support for the “Fairness Formula” for school funding
2. Support for Bills S265 and A3703 for state to reimburse municipalities for cost of disabled veterans’ total property tax exemptions
3. Support for improvements and repaving of Route 70 in Manchester

The first letter backs a proposal by Gov. Chris Christie for a new school funding "Fairness Formula," which would give districts a flat per-student amount of about $6,500 per school year. Christie says the formula will reduce the property tax burden of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers, especially in districts that have received little state aid. Critics, including the New Jersey School Boards Association, whose president is Donald Webster, president of the Manchester Township Board of Education, say the formula would eliminate important programs and harm the quality of education for students.

The second supports bills in the state Legislature, S-265 and A-3703, that would reimburse towns for the cost of total property tax exemptions that the state grants to disabled veterans. "Manchester has 166 totally disabled veterans receiving property tax exemptions, and that removes over $29 million in assessed value from the township’s tax base," the template letter says, which costs the township more than $725,000 in revenue. "While we have the utmost appreciation and respect for our veterans, from a business standpoint, it would be a significant property tax savings if the state reimbursed our municipality for the exemptions."

The third letter seeks assistance from Richard Hammer, commissioner of the state Department of Transportation, on getting Route 70 repaved due to numerous potholes and other issues.

The three letters can be downloaded and printed, or can be copied and pasted to email them to the appropriate people, officials said. The town will collect copies at Town Hall for those who prefer to save a stamp, officials said.

Photo by Kevin Doncaster, via Flickr, under Creative Commons license