Almost-Pyrrhic Victory in West Orange Tax Revolt
Posted on 21 April 2010
My town, West Orange, saw a substantial cut in aid from the state this year. The Board of Education put together a budget that would increase expenditures by 1.3%. With the loss of state funding, that implies a 7.3% tax increase, or about $500 annually for an average household. The citizens were up in arms — our taxes have skyrocketed over the past decade.
Last night, our town revolted. The BOE president was voted out, and the candidate who most campaigned on a cost-cutting platform garnered a lot of votes. (I couldn’t vote for him because I don’t believe he knows how to cut costs, and I refuse to vote for dysfunction just because I like the idea of cost containment.) The school budget failed, 3,947 to 3,176. It had proposed staff cuts of 84 positions, including 33 teachers — the teachers’ union had refused to take a pay freeze.
Local email lists and blogs buzzed with the reasons: the teachers’ union, the one-way ratchet of spending even in a lousy economy, our inability to sell our homes because of the high taxes, and — the fundamental point at the root of all the others — our taxes have grown too much for too long.
It will be a tough victory. Even though the budget failed, there will still be a tax increase because of the reduction in state aid: $400 vs. $500 annually. We expect more layoffs, what with legal constraints and the difficulty of changing our spending on programs, there could be a lot of cuts to programs that people see as fundamental to a liberal education (sports and music get talked about most). If we get a reputation for having high taxes and austere schools, our property values could continue to fall. All because we wouldn’t accept an additional nine dollars per month in property taxes.
But what other choice was there? Just accept the ratchet effect?
We used to pay to the state, and the state gave us “aid”. We didn’t see the money that we were paying for schools. Now it’s more explicit. (More, but not completely: The state still pays for a lot of educational requirements, including Social Security and pension payments for teachers.) Maybe, if this trend continues, we’ll have a rational budgeting process based on knowing what we can afford and making priorities accordingly. I originally titled this post “Pyrrhic Victory in West Orange Tax Revolt”, but decided that’s not really true — if we actually get our budget under control, then we did win something.
Meanwhile, it’s going to be pretty tough out there. It’s going to feel like a Pyrrhic victory. We have to make sure that, in the long haul, it was worth it.
2 responses to Almost-Pyrrhic Victory in West Orange Tax Revolt
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Tax Collector Arthur G. Carlock ESQ
Township Of West Orange
66 Main St.
West Orange N.J. 07050
RE: Property Tax Assessment & Civil Disobedience
Dear Joe,
Enclosed please find my check in the amount of $ 1,255.05 which represents a fifty percent (50 %)
deduction in my property tax. I am taking this stand as an act of Civil Disobedience and Non Violent
Direct Action. For many years the citizens if this township , and other municipalities, have repeatedly
Petitioned elected officials for some serious, fair, and equitable tax reform to little or no avail.
My wife, before her death on November 3, 2007, and I frequently discussed this taxation without
Representation. Sixty percent (60 %) of our tax for allocation is for education, which we have never utilized, except when voting. Furthermore, I question the percentage of decline in our school system contribute to by policies over which we have virtually no say. I believe the amount of increase in our taxes over the past 11 years reflects a similar decline in the quality of this “service”.
I strongly believe that ten percent (10%) of our tax foe Education is more than fair. I urge all citizens in every municipality throughout this state, and the country, to proportion their tax bill accordingly. I am particularly concerned about the growing population, who are on fixed income, disabled, and/or find everything that they worked for being stolen from them, like myself. This concern of mine also extends to families who enroll their children in private schools because they want a higher quality of education than our public system has to offer. Yet they are required to still pay more than their fair tax.
These two examples are merely “the tip of the iceberg” of why I make this moral decision. All other issues will be articulated at a later date.
I do not take action frivolously, but based upon sound advice, moral authority, and well established
Princeiples of civil Disobedience