RobbinsvilleWeb News

While the township continues to sit in the dark without any Food Network or HGTV, Mayor Fried and the township have taken it upon themselves to sue the Mercer County Tax Board “for ordering Robbinsville to perform its 2006 revaluation while allowing other Mercer County towns to avoid the task.” According to the Township’s complaint, the Board’s actions were “arbitrary and capricious,” and prompted tax appeals that have drained at least $1.7 million from Robbinsville’s surplus a figure which may rise above $2 million.

The mayor alleges that he prdecited that the real estate ,arket would take a nosedive and claims that the township’s hand was forced while other town went unscathed. This in turn has caused Robbinsville residents to bear a greater tax burden than the rest of the county’s towns.

The official complaints are:

• The Mercer County Tax Board heard Robbinsville’s arguments about real estate market conditions when Mayor Dave Fried asked to delay the revaluation, shortly after taking office in July 2005. The Township was given an ultimatum: Conduct the revaluation, or the Board will do it and bill the municipality.

• The Board violated the New Jersey Constitution and other laws that require towns to be treated fairly for tax purposes. Other Mercer County municipalities that met standards for conducting revaluations in 2006 were not ordered to proceed; some conducted their last revaluation almost 20 years ago.

• The Board was made aware of this unconstitutional inequity in a letter dated December 3, 2009, and delivered to County Executive Brian Hughes. Yet no steps have been taken to ensure the equal treatment required by the New Jersey Constitution.

We will keep you posted as the lawsuit pregresses.

Source: robbinsville-twp.org

Happy New Year!

According to a posting on the township’s website, Mayor Fried is ticked off about the recent disappearance of HGTV and the Food Network channels from the Cablevision lineup. Being that Cablevision has a monopoly on the township’s cable services, most residents have been left high and dry with little alternatives to satisfy their cooking and decorating needs.

Cablevision surprised many people with an announcement over the holiday weekend, just a day before HGTV and the Food Network channels were yanked off their lineup. Currently Cablevision is blaming Scripps, the provider of these channels, while Scripps blames Cablevision. While both companies act like spoiled children, the viewers, including the Mayor, suffer. However the Mayor has drafted a letter to the Board of Public Utilities and Cablevision, the text of which appears below:

Like many others in Robbinsville and beyond, I was surprised to learn on New Year’s Day that Cablevision had interrupted service on two popular channels, HGTV and The Food Network. I was especially disturbed after learning there had been no advance notice, either to Cablevision’s subscribers or to the Township, as the grantor of the local franchise.
Instead, our residents and others in Cablevision’s service area awoke to a public information message that sought to blame Scripps Networks for the interruption in service, over what is apparently a financial dispute between the two companies. I can only presume that the timing and nature of this move, coming as it did on a holiday weekend, is an attempt by Cablevision to use paying customers as leverage in a bid to squeeze Scripps to lower its asking price for these two channels. At the very least, this move was greedy; as a representative of my residents, I must call on the Board of Public Utilities to investigate whether this action violated any laws or regulations. Like most cable subscribers, a high share of our residents look forward to programming on HGTV specials and The Food Network on New Year’s Day.
It is clear that Cablevision executed a calculated plan that held no regard for its subscribers and that their strategy was to blame Scripps. Let me be clear – those who promoted this ill-fated plan failed in their mission. My residents are outraged at Cablevision, as I am sure the company will experience today and in the days ahead.
As a consequence of Cablevision’s actions, I am requesting that the Board examine three issues:
(1) Whether Cablevision’s actions violated any laws or regulations that require adequate notice for interruption of all or part of a service. If Cablevision was not required to notify individual subscribers, was the company required to notify the Township, as the grantor of the franchise, so that the Township could have provided impartial information on its Web site?
(2) Whether Cablevision is required to grant subscribers credit for the loss of these channels, especially if this interruption continues for an extended period.
(3) Whether Cablevision should have sought mediation, through the Office of Ratepayer Advocate or some other party, before taking such an extreme action as an unannounced service interruption on a holiday weekend. The BPU should immediately order the parties to work through the Ratepayer Advocate to end this impasse.

While competition for television is coming slowly to Robbinsville, technical hurdles will make Cablevision the monopoly in many parts of town for years to come. I trust you share my belief that when a cable company is given the exclusive right to provide service in a community, it has a duty to behave responsibly toward its customers. In my view, Cablevision has not fulfilled that duty and it must be called upon to explain its behavior. More disturbing is the fact that this is part of a pattern of consumer abuse that the Board must address, once and for all. Thank you for your time and consideration of this most important matter and I am happy to assist you in any way and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Dave Fried
Mayor

In light of a $1.2 million shortfall in 2010, mostly due to a large number of tax appeals, Mayor David Fried will be cutting the township’s staff, as well as reducing pay for employees that retain their jobs. About 10 of 127 positions will be eliminated beginning immediately, with those losing their jobs being given 30 day notices and pay through January 15. (Editor’s note: even Scrooge didn’t fire Bob Cratchet)

“Two employees in the engineering department have been laid off and one additional cut is expected later this month in the same department. Other employee-layoffs will include two firefighters, a bailiff from the police department, two vacancies in the public works department that won’t be filled, one employee from the clerk’s office, the economic development coordinator position will be eliminated and a full-time employee in the finance department was downgraded to part-time.”

Employees staying on will see a pay cut or furlough time, and beginning next year all employees will begin to pay more more their health care. These cost cutting measures, which also included selling two police cars, are estimated to save the township nearly $1 million and come close to breaking even.

The Mayor attributes most of these fiscal problems to the tax appeals due to the recent revaluation. As a way of protesting the tax problems,  “Last month Fried withheld $347,168 due to the county. He said he will hold it until he gets approval for a townshipwide reassessment of property values. In a letter Fried sent to County Executive Brian M. Hughes on Dec. 3, Fried also requested that the county order the municipalities that have not yet conducted revaluations to do so. He believes that a countywide revaluation would start all municipalities on even ground.”

County Executive Hughes responded by saying that he believes Mayor Fried doesnt understand how government works. “If it weren’t so silly, I think it would be sad,” said Hughes, adding that the county doesn’t have to continue to educate the mayor on the Mercer County Tax Board.  For somebody to have the kind of problems he’s having, cutting staff and services in his own town he’s not the right person to tell the other 12 towns when to do their revaluation”.

Source: nj.com

Leave it to the third grade reading level of the Trentonian to pick up this story. Playgirl magazine’s 1995 Man of the Year,  John Holliday, a 1983 Hamilton High West graduate and current LAPD cop, is suing the Township, Police Chief Masseroni, Mayor Fried and former Business Administrator Mary Caffrey for discrimination. Holliday alleges that that in 2007 the township agreed to hire him as a police officer, only to rescind the offer about a week later after learning of his nude modeling. The township contends that Mr. Holliday did not disclose this information.  According to the Trentonian, “While in California, Holliday also worked as an actor, appearing in television roles and low-budget films like “Real Stories of the Donut Men,” a spoof of the reality series COPS.”

Source: trentonian.com

While unemployment continues to rise and the economy continues to limp along, Robbinsville town council has decided that this would be a good time to raise their salaries. Township Engineer/Business Administrator Tim McGough will be paid $155,000 for his role, however while Mr. McGough fills both positions, their separate salaries have been proposed at $116,000 for engineer and $99,000 for business administrator for a combined total of $215,000. It’s unknown as to why separate salaries have been proposed since one person is filling both positions.

If the proposed ordinance goes into effect, the following salary increases would be:

• Police Chief Martin Masseroni: $123,000 up from $120,000 (+2.5%)
• Public Works Director Dino Colarocco: $92,000 up from $87,000 (up from $84,000 the previous year – a 9.5% increase)
• Chief Financial Officer Debra Bauer: $78,00 up from $83,000 (up from $76,000 the previous year – a 9.2% increase)
• Municipal Clerk Michele Auletta: $81,000 up from $79,000 (+2.5%)

While our property taxes continue to skyrocket, the town council feel that they are entitled to larger and larger salaries. Does this seem right?

Source: centraljersey.com