REINHART MUST DEFEND HER SUPPORT OF COAH UNFUNDED MANDATES

         With lawsuits pending challenging the mandates of the State Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and substantial fears by local governments that imposing a quota for housing construction in every municipality in the state will be economically devastating, Burlington County Freeholder Director Aubrey A. Fenton and Freeholder Stacey Jordan called on their opponent, Shamong Committeewoman MaryAnn Reinhart to “tell the citizens of the county if she supports this multi-million dollar unfunded mandate from state government.”

         “Reinhart, at a Township Committee meeting in October, 2006, suggested a dump site on Atsion road in Shamong be considered for the construction of affordable housing under the COAH rules,” Fenton and Jordan said.  “This is nothing more than still another unfunded mandate coming from state government and forcing local property taxpayers to shoulder the additional burden.”

         “Providing affordable housing is something we can all agree on, but ordering it done by piling punishing tax increases onto the backs of  property taxpayers is something we don’t agree with,” they said.  “The cost to municipalities throughout Burlington County will be astronomical if the mandate is allowed to stand.”  

         “Ample evidence has already been offered to demonstrate the severe economic impact the housing mandate will have,” Fenton and Jordan said, “including dramatic increases in school enrollments and added demands for municipal services, all resulting in major increases in local property tax rates.  To make matters worse, the mandate comes at a time when the Corzine Administration and the Legislature have made deep cuts in municipal aid, placing even greater strains on local budgets and taxpayers.”

         They also sharply criticized the imposition of a 2.5 per cent tax imposed on commercial development as part of the mandate, describing it as “a disastrous and remarkably ill conceived idea which will kill such development and deny municipalities the tax ratables which go with it.”

         “Residents of Shamong have already been hit with their first local purpose tax because of the failure to apply for state aid to offset the cost of gypsy moth spraying,” they said.  “If Reinhart has her way, the construction of affordable housing units in the community will pile increases on top of that.”

         Fenton and Jordan were critical of the COAH mandates as “yet another attempt by state government to override local concerns and local input on a matter which involves potentially millions of dollars in property tax increases.”

         “Reinhart has an obligation to speak up, defend her position in support of COAH, and explain to voters and taxpayers why she supports a government action which has so many negative consequences,” they said.