Allentown gears up for election

Three Allentown residents are vying for the two, three-year council seats up for grabs in the Nov. 4 election.

Republican incumbents Michael Schumacher and Margaret Armenante are contending against Democrat Wayne Smith. Armenante did not respond to election questions prior to press time.

Schumacher, 46, and his wife Karen have two children. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Rutgers University's Graduate School of Management and works as operations manager at Chase Home Mortgage.

Smith, 58, and his wife have a daughter. He attended some college and serves as senior systems administrator at David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton.

Schumacher sees the top issues in Allentown as quality of life issues.

"How do we maintain our historic village and 'small town' against a backdrop of traffic, congestion and development all around us?" he said.

The incumbent spoke about preservation and said Allentown preserved Heritage Park, 38 acres in the center of the community, and over 100 additional acres, in concert with private and government partners.

"We must continue to press our neighbors to respect our historic setting, their own zoning and country code," he said. "We must continue to lobby Monmouth County to use all available means to mitigate the traffic that snarls our thoroughfares. All of this must be accomplished under a fiscal system that penalizes us for being small, despite our efficiency."

Schumacher also discussed the Main Street bridge and dam replacement and said the project will continue to require the borough's vigilance to minimize impact.

"The fact that the replacement will not result in a closure is evidence of the borough's commitment to maintaining the vitality of our community and business district," he said. "Our perseverance, and the skills of our professionals, have paid off with a commitment for a temporary bridge throughout the project."

The incumbent also said that fiscal issues are always important.

"We had nearly half of our state aid restored this year, and then received $100,000 in extraordinary aid, resulting in an increase in aid over 2007," he said. "We have always worked to minimize increases in the municipal tax rate, and no line item is exempt from cuts. Many municipal positions are already part-time or are shared with other communities, so our creativity will continue to be tested."

He continued, "And if the governor is serious about sharing services, he'll remove the barriers placed by state agencies and counties that have prevented us from sharing other services, like the municipal court and trash collection."

Smith said the borough's budget and taxes top his list of important issues in Allentown.

"Despite recent rhetoric about how well our elected officials manage (and are knowledgeable regarding) the budget, consider the following: We are, and have been, paying $21,000 a year for litigation in a personnel matter," he said. "We pay $33,000 a year for a part-time director of public safety. We still pay a nonresident $3,800 a year for an appointment as recycling coordinator."

Smith took issue with current council members voting to give themselves a pay raise this year despite state cutbacks in funding.

"For the past two years, council has voted to exceed the budget cap," he said. "As to what the cost would be to borough homeowners, not one council member could provide an answer, not even Ms. Armenante, who is on the budget committee."

Smith also said the borough received and spent at least $75,000 from a Municipal Homeland Security Assistance Fund that it could have used for firefighting equipment but instead enacted an ordinance to obtain additional tax dollars from residents to purchase such equipment.

The newcomer also spoke about the necessity for the borough to continue greenbelt preservation efforts with its neighbors.

"Significant borough taxpayer dollars were spent, for expert testimony, in an effort to prevent development of the Breza Road area," he said. "We need our elected officials to stand firm on their word (and our tax dollars) for the preservation of that area. Additional open space funding is necessary to ensure that our tax dollars were not wasted. We also need to ensure that our historic homes and buildings don't decay under our noses."

Smith would also like to improve communication.

"The mayor once stated, 'We can't spoon feed the public.' On the other hand, we can't afford to starve the residents," Smith said.

He said the borough needs a Web site.

"The cost is insignificant compared to the time and costs to copy borough documents for the public and provide other information that could readily be available (and updatable) online," he said. "We must get out of the Stone Age. Not everyone can take time off from work to get information at borough hall. Additionally, the local media needs to report on borough meetings, not just rely on 'press releases' from the mayor.

Both candidates also discussed how they believe the current financial crisis would affect the borough.

Schumacher said, "One of the concerns of a municipality is the cost of borrowing. The borough has very little short term financing outstanding, and we expect to roll it into long-term bonds through the Monmouth County Improvement Authority. Pooling our bonds into a larger offering, backed by the improvement authority, should keep our rate down."

He also said the tax collection rate is another concern during hard economic times.

"The borough has to fully fund the amounts due to the regional school district and county, whether we've received a tax payment or not," he said. "We will always recover the monies at the end of the year through a tax sale, but we could be forced to borrow in the interim, if enough taxpayers were delinquent."

Smith said residents have already experienced significant cuts in state funding.

"I suspect those cuts will pale in comparison to future ones, as less dollars filter back to the state from the federal government," he said.

He also said borough merchants are certain to experience loss of business, due to necessary cutbacks in personal spending.

"A loss of any borough business will result in the loss of ratables for the borough, thus increasing the tax burden for the homeowners," he said.

Funding and grants for improvements will also likely be in jeopardy, according to Smith.

"Job cuts, due to the downturn (crash) of the economy, are certain to significantly affect some borough residents," he said. "Those retirees, who may have lost significant retirement funds, could have difficulty paying water, sewer, and tax bills."

Voters in the election will also have the opportunity to decide the fate of a proposed increase in the borough's open space tax. The increase would bring the tax to 4.5 cents, which would increase taxes an average of $60 per year and would help the borough pay its obligation toward preserving over 100 acres along Breza Road.