Educational Services

What? .... So What? .... Now What?
A Taxpayer’s Perspective
Dennis Crowley, Member Board of Directors
Cape May Taxpayers Association

The late Rich Reinhart, in one of his last public acts as president of the TPA writing to a local publication last spring, probably said it best.

“…. we’re by nature a watchdog group…our role is to question, to probe, to dissemble. …. our existence forces units of government to think and sometimes rethink the implications of their proposals. ….we just want to see tax money well spent….. we will insist on fiscal responsibility. We will ask questions.

With this clear charter in mind, the TPA has been concerned for the past several months about what is clearly a serious and perhaps widening crisis in the confidence that citizens and taxpayers have in their institutions.

In the busy days of last summer, the heat was on and getting stronger, -- and we don’t mean sunshine. The bond issue for Mall improvements ---much needed in the eyes of many---became the subject of confusion, suspicion and even anger as government came under virtual siege. Information was in short supply and calls for trust fell on deaf ears. The gulf between government and the governed, always wide where taxing is discussed, became even wider. When information was finally offered, few were in the mood to listen. And in the end, the issue failed, not because of its value but because the public process collapsed. The table around which the public meets to strike consensus had too many empty chairs.

After that failed process, the TPA revisited the ideals laid out in the words of Rich Reinhart. With candor, we began to look at our participation and what we could do to make that process work in the future. TPA in effect, embarked on our own internal revitalization project.

As Rich said, we are watchdogs. But what does that really mean? A watchdog’s job by nature is not complicated. In the simplest of terms, the watchdog stands ready to ask three questions: What? So What? Now What? In other words -- What is being proposed? What significance does it have? What will it cost? Who’s going to pay for it? Who will benefit? And what should we do about it? How can we fix the problems the watchdog has brought to us?

Early on in our internal TPA revitalization it was clear that, while not complicated, this task is difficult. Not because these questions must be asked, but because they must be answered before the actions are taken.

It falls to the TPA to raise these questions and press firmly and fairly for answers. It is, after all, a broadly based single purpose entity with no partisan or political agenda. Its members have only one thing in common. They pay the taxes that support the services of government. We clarified and reaffirmed our sole mission: TPA will be at the table of public policy from now on.

We next turned our attention to what we seek for TPA members -- a transparent relationship between the taxpayers and their governments.

What should any taxpayer expect from this relationship? At a minimum it should include a full and informative presentation of local and county budgets, a comprehensive understanding of the costs and benefits of services funded by taxpayers and a clear and documented assessment of taxpayer benefit in any proposed expenditure of public funds. The TPA will insist on this and will adopt policies and recommendations that identify and support the interests of the taxpayers of Cape May, including efficiency, economy and ethical behavior in government services. We will actively support services, programs and initiatives that benefit the interests of the taxpayers of Cape May. We will actively oppose the expenditures of public funds for which the purpose and value to the taxpayer is insufficient or has not been documented. And we will insist on Comprehensive governmental planning that is responsive to the interests and economic resources of the taxpayers of Cape May. We thus clarified and reaffirmed the Goals of the TPA:

	We, then, looked carefully at how the TPA does business.
	We added new voices to our Board of Directors.
	We revised our by-laws to accurately reflect our renewed mission and goals.
	We created a committee structure that reflects the careful, transparent process we want from governments. A comprehensive understanding of the costs and benefits of services funded by taxpayers will precede any discussion by TPA on the value of publicly supported spending.
	We are designing more regular and reliable means for communicating with and securing input from our membership.
	We are taking aggressive steps to expand our membership to include every property tax payer in Cape May –resident and non-resident.
	We are restructuring our Website to be a current and reliable source of real information for TPA members.

And, most important, we are committed to doing all we can to foster cooperation and information sharing among all agencies, organizations, groups and associations within our community on the critical task of raising and spending public funds.

Cape May is a great place to live and visit. Our tax rates, like our beaches and our town, are pointed to with admiration across New Jersey. Cape May doesn’t have a lot of real money problems. The ones we have, however, are pretty serious and they all impact Property Taxes. Is $7 million annually for our school systems enough, not enough or too much? Should we build parking garages for the summer crunch? Should we build a commercial Convention Center, a Community Center or just fix the old one up? Do we have enough Affordable Housing? And what about the Mall, the Gateway, the Cove, the traffic gridlock, a new City Hall? Can we afford to be a national treasure, a tourist destination and a residential community all rolled into one?

Property Tax is the lynchpin of Cape May’s sustained economic vitality. With this much at stake, the careful assessment of the costs and benefits of how much we all spend and what we all get must be the only justification for that tax.

Have we done all we can to insure that this tax is fairly raised and prudently spent? The TPA alone has neither the resources nor the authority to do this in a unilateral fashion. It can only be, and will be, the catalyst toward an inclusive and sustained process by which this public policy issue is confronted and resolved.

As this catalyst, the TPA will pursue the full and open public discussion of public spending among all the stakeholders in that spending. We will seek to have every chair at the table filled as together Cape May answers the questions: What? So What? Now What?

Please come to out next board meeting on January 19 at 1 PM in City Hall to give us your thoughts.