Mayor: School Tax Hike Will Impact Borough’s Taxpayers

WOODBINE – At the May 5 Borough Council meeting Mayor William Pikolycky reported that the recent school tax increase would present a real hardship to residents. 
“We’ve given the school board so much help over the years and even with a couple of monitors from the state they still can’t get things together. This latest school tax increase they say is resulting from higher enrollment but it will mean significant difficulties for our residents to pay it, and this is year after year.
“It works out to about $100 per year for each of our property owners which is a lot for Woodbine. How the school board operates also hurts our image and makes it even more difficult to attract new families to the borough.
“We’re trying real hard to get people to come here to work and own a property but they don’t want to come because of the school. We also just learned that there is a water bill they haven’t paid for years. Now that we’ve taken over the utilities authority as a borough operation, that bill becomes ours.
“It’s over $11,000 so that means for many quarters over the years they have not paid their water bill. The school also affects our Standard and Poor’s rating. It would have been higher except for the school and especially that it’s under state monitor control as well as for the county debt,” Pikolycky said.
Borough Clerk Lisa Garrison added, “So many of our residents need to pay their tax bill in very small increments, and now with this increase, it will mean they really need to figure out where the new money will come from to pay this new increase.” Borough Solicitor Richard Tonetta advised on the water bill arrears, “We should at least work out that if they ever sell that property, we have a claim on the proceeds to cover the money we now need to pay.”
Project Updates
There were several updates for some pending projects, including the Route 550 project which is moving along and, it is hoped, the first portion will be done before Memorial Day, reported Pikolycky.
He said the “Red-headed woodpecker survey that Stockton (University) is doing for us should be completed over the next couple of weeks and that will allow us to move forward with our Open Space plans adjacent to the school. They’re even going to have a tape of woodpecker calls for the study, so that’s kind of interesting.”
Tonetta said he is reviewing the various leases associated with the Woodbine Airport facility now that the borough has taken it over. “There’s nothing in the present leases that allows for notice, and I know that council wants 30-day notices of termination to be added so I will be working on that.”
Pikolycky reported that Wells Fargo intends to donate a piece of property adjacent to the back of the firehouse.
“The property has underground storage so before we take this on we need to verify and get proof that there is no contamination so we can satisfy state Department of Environmental Protection requirements. We also need to address the damaged sidewalk of the property so that we don’t get stuck with any unwanted expenses in taking on this property,” he said.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.