Moving Cape May Election to November to Save $30K

CAPE MAY – Voters here approved moving the municipal election from May to November in a 610-320 votes, Tues. Nov. 2.
Mayor Edward J. Mahaney Jr. told the Herald he believed voters moved the election for the expressed purpose of saving the city $30,000 per election.
“That is a significant amount of money in the city budget,” he said.
During the past 15 years, the city has averaged one municipal election per year.
By moving the election to coincide with state and national November elections, Mahaney said voter turnout could increase from 50 percent for municipal elections to 70 percent.
At a Wed., Nov. 3 council meeting, Deputy Mayor Jack Wichterman suggested council introduce an ordinance by title to move the election to November with a public hearing in December.
City Solicitor Tony Monzo said the ordinance had been written and a copy was in the possession of the city clerk.
Councilman Bill Murray said he wanted to read the ordinance one more time before it was introduced. Mahaney said while council should move speedily based on the public’s desire, there was no rush to urgency since there no city election is scheduled for 2011.
He said council members should receive a copy of the ordinance with introduction scheduled for the Nov. 15 meeting and a hearing on Dec. 21. The ordinance would take effect after Jan. 1.
Monzo said moving the election date to November would impact the city’s next annual reorganization held on July 1 when the city appoints such positions as auditor and solicitor. He said the reorganization meeting could extend all city appointments for six month or just make appointments for a short period of time.