Worry, who, me?
Well, we saw it coming. Smart growth law gets warm greeting, in today's newspaper, tells us the Gov. McGreevey signed a law that "permits municipalities to steer development to designated growth areas". The article explains that, "For municipalities that adopt a program under the new state legislation, developers purchase development rights to build in a "receiving area" that is targeted for growth. Those funds are then used to permanently preserve land in the "sending area" at no cost to the taxpayer".

I've lived in NJ long enough to be wary of anything that has to do with
a. Government intervention in property markets
b. Designation of areas of any kind (who does the designating?)
c. Anything from the government that promises "no cost to the taxpayer"
Jim Hess, v-p of planning with the Regional Planning Partnership, put it like this, "Hopefully it will address the issue of property owners' loss of equity, and it will allow towns to preserve critical natural resources without having to spend money of acquisition."
We'll see.

No chads will hang in the Principality
The Township hall will host a display of digital voting machines Wednesday and Thursday. The county budgeted $4.2 million to buy 600 state-of-the-art voting machines. I wonder if originally they were supposed to come at no cost to the taxpayer.

Just how short do you want your haircut?
The Board of Education will vote on its $62.1 million 2004-2005 budget. It means the average Borough homeowner will pay 6.8% increase in school taxes to a total of $5,382. The average Township homeowner's increase will be 5.2%, for a total of $5,600.
Must I remind you that these numbers do not include state taxes or local property taxes?