OCEAN CITY — For the second time in two years, a state appeals rejected a voter-initiated taxpayer protection ordinance (TPO) that would have forced city officials here to keep expenditures in line with the federal cost of living.
After arguing the case telephonically on Aug. 18, the Appellate Division decided on Oct. 10 that budgetary issues are regulated by the state and allowed only limited voter review.
“The TPO in this case, proposed by initiative petition, and which caps municipal budget, debt and salary of municipal employees, would be invalid,” according to the court’s opinion delivered by Judge Anthony J. Parrillo.
Originally in 2006, the case was brought before Judge Joseph Visalli in the Cape May County civil court when city officials objected to the initiative ordinance proposed by the Ocean City civic group Fairness in Taxes.
Citing potential financial chaos, Visalli ruled in the city’s favor and the group appealed his decision.
Last September, the appeals court affirmed Visalli’s decision noting that “only legislative ordinances are subject to referendum, we concluded that an ordinance dictating limits on municipal expenditures – budget, debt and salaries – is administrative in nature and thus exempt from the initiative process.”
In May, however, the state Supreme Court rejected the legislative/administrative argument and remanded this case back to the Appellate Division, which again sided with the city but for different reasons.
Frederick Hoffman, of the Fairness in Taxes group, was disappointed by the decision.
“The average citizen living in a community should have some say in how these financial decisions are made,” he told the Herald.
Hoffman compared city spending to household spending.
“If a family makes $50,000 a year, they have to budget their money right and not spend more than the have,” he said. “When we see excessive use of tax dollars, we should be able to have input.”
According to the Fairness in Taxes Web site, this lengthy court battle could have been avoided if the city had allowed the question to be decided by the voters or if city council had enacted the TPO as did the municipality of Bogata.
“That ordinance has been successfully in effect for several years without incurring any of the ‘chaos’ they are trying to scare you with,” the Web site stated.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com
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