Township Finances Debated by Committee Candidates

Incumbent Township Committeeman Don Kostka said Tuesday he is seeking another three-year term so he can continue the work of restructuring the township’s annual budget.

Republican Annabel Pierce, who is challenging Kostka for the open committee seat in the June primary, and Democrat Mike O’Brien, who will face the Republican winner in November, met with about 25 voters at the Changebridge at Montville complex Tuesday.

Kostka, a certified public accountant, said there are hard choices to be made when completing a budget. Among the efforts he has championed, he said, were the elimination of benefits for the township committee members.

Ending the practice of committee members getting medical, dental and vision benefits saves between $75,000 and $125,000 annually, he said.

Since he joined the committee in 2010, Kostka said, the annual tax rate increase was 1.8 percent each year. Between 2007 and 2009, the rate increased 5.1 percent annually. At the same time, the township’s debt decreased from $75 million to $48 million.

Going forward, he said, there will be hard choices to be made based on a slowly dropping tax base. Tax appeals are mounting and the committee needs to consider personnel cuts and how to address long-term maintenance of township parks, recreation fields and other facilities in order to keep the budget under control.

“I need three more years to finish what we started,” he said.

Pierce, a business owner, said that she has been involved with community activities and groups in the Towaco section over the past two years. She said that her approach to the budget would be to carefully examine all the expenditures and seek common ground on an approach to keeping the tax rate level.

She did not favor cutting jobs first.

“That is someone’s father, mother or brother in that job,” she said. "The township is growing and more services would be needed in the future."

Pierce said her dedication to “community spirit” was the driving reason she is seeking the committee seat.

O’Brien, a former Montville teacher for 40 years, said he would not lay off employees to reduce the budget. He said his role as a committeeman would be to promote openness and to question the way the committee worked.

He said the current committee does not present enough information to the public.

“The less you know, the better you can be controlled,” he said.

The township has had a fully Republican committee for a number of years.

“The burden is on  you” to change that situation, O’Brien said.

Correction: An earlier version of the story inaccurately stated that Pierce had lived in Montville for ten years.