VOL. 66, NO. 19
Friday, May 7th, 2021
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Mercer County, local officials come together to discuss use of American Rescue Plan federal funds By ANDREW HARRISON
Staff Writer
State legislators, Mercer County commissioners, Mercer County mayors and administrators gathered virtually to discuss their aspirations for federal funds from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act. Organized by the Capital City Area Black Caucus, the discussion on April 24 centered on how Mercer County government and municipal officials would hope and plan to utilize the federal funds. As of April 27, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has not provided specific guidance yet on how the federal funds can be used by the county and local municipalities. Through the American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, New Jersey is being allocated $10.18 billion in direct federal assistance to the state government and local governments (county and municipal).
“The money is going to be an enormous amount with so many different people looking at how to spend this. I look at it as four ways of how we need to think about this money,” Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker (D-Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset) said on April 24. “The first one is the immediate. We know people are hurting, businesses are hurting and businesses are closing. I think the first thing we do is look at where this money be used for the immediate.” He added that inclusivity, looking to the future when it comes to helping prosperity grow in communities, and tying it into what officials are currently doing, such as community programs, are other ways to the funds could be used. Assemblyman Dan Benson (D-Mercer, Middlesex) suggested transportation as an area where he would want funds to be allocated. “We have done a great job of building equity for our seniors
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The Hopewell Township Committee has approved a resolution directing the planning board to determine if the property site adjacent to the Zaitz Tract properties qualifies as an area in need redevelopment. The property site location is at 1646 Reed Road and is near the intersection of Reed and Diverty Roads. The properties the make up the Zaitz Tract are next to the property off of Reed Road, which would be the new home to a Hopewell Valley Senior and Community Center. The resolution was approved on May 3. Mayor Julie Blake, Deputy Mayor Courtney PetersManning, Committeewoman Kristin McLaughlin, Committeeman Kevin Kuchinski and Committeeman Michael Ruger voted “yes” on the measure. “If we were to move forward positively on this the preliminary investigation report will be developed by our planner and discussed
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIKE CHIPOWSKY
Eleanor Baker turned 100 years old on May 1.
See OFFICIALS, Page 3A
Planning board asked to determine if Reed Road property is an area in need of redevelopment By ANDREW HARRISON
Longtime Hopewell Township resident celebrates 100th birthday
at the planning board level,” said Mark Kataryniak, community development director and Hopewell Township township engineer. “A recommendation will come back to the governing body for a determination as to whether or not this area constitutes an area in need of redevelopment.” According to the resolution, the Hopewell Valley YMCA is the contract purchaser of the 15.18-acre property. The stakeholders for the project for the new center include Hopewell Township officials and professional staff, Hopewell Valley YMCA, and Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education and school district. With the planning board authorized to undertake the investigation of the property site off of Reed Road, the investigation will be handled by planning firm Banisch Associates. A map of the proposed area, along with a written report on the findings, will be submitted to the planning board. After the planning board receives such a report they will make recommendations to the township committee. “This action tonight is the first step in one of many that will be included in the redevelopment process, assuming you act tonight,” Attorney Kevin McManimon said on May 3 prior to township committee approval. “Then there is a study that gets undertaken and presented to the planning board; See REED ROAD, Page 3A
Fire tricks drive by Baker’s house for her 100th birthday.
Hopewell Township resident Eleanor Baker celebrated turning 100 years old on May 1. She was born on May 1, 1921, and was educated at the Harbourton school house. She went on to graduated from Pen-
Baker, center, waves an American flag as emergency service vehicles, fire trucks and the Hopewell Township police drive by for her birthday.
nington Central High School on Main Street in Pennington. Over the years, Baker worked at Heinemann Electric, Cointreau Liquors and Ribsam’s Florist which was located in Pennytown.
In 1945, she married the late John W. Baker and together they had three sons: John, Ken and Harry. She also has two grandsons, John and Shawn; and three great grandsons, Nathen, Branden and Trevor.
Pennington Council adopts $4.49M budget for municipal operations in 2021 By ANDREW HARRISON
Staff Writer
Pennington Council members adopted a $4.49 million municipal budget to fund municipal operations in 2021. The Pennington Council adopted the budget on May 3. Council President Catherine Chandler, Councilwoman Deborah Gnatt, Councilwoman Beverly Mills, Councilwoman Liz Semple, and Councilman Ken Gross voted “yes” to introduce the budget. Councilman Charles Marciante was the sole vote against budget adoption in the meeting. “I am going to vote ‘no’ on the budget because I do not believe we should be raising taxes after we did 5% last year and during a pandemic at the worst economic time of our country we are raising taxes,” he said on May 3. “Like I said, if you want to drive older people out of this town and people that educate their children and leave, keep going. You are getting to stress people to a point where this is not fair.”
Pennington’s municipal appropriations are increasing from $3.82 million in 2020 to $4.49 million in the 2021 budget. The borough’s residential and commercial owners support the municipal appropriations through a tax levy. In 2021, the tax levy is projected to be $2.70 million, an increase from 2020’s $2.57 million. The 2020 budget totaled $3.82 million. Residential and commercial property owners paid a total tax levy of $2.40 million to support the budget. The borough’s Chief Financial Officer Sandra Webb informed the Council at the May 3 meeting that Pennington had been notified by the assessor that the borough’s assessed value dropped by $279,000. “We are going to propose a small amendment to the budget to keep the tax rate at the two cent increase, which would be a $1,369 decrease in the local tax. We are going to use surplus to offset that,” Webb said. In 2021, the municipal tax rate
Publication of Time Off section temporarily suspended The publication of the Time Off section has been temporarily suspended. Articles that run in the Time Off section will be published in the main section of this newspaper.
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is projected to be 49 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of a home that is still assessed at $484,000 pays $2,371 in municipal taxes. The municipal tax rate increased by two cents from 47 cents in 2020. An owner of a home assessed at $484,000 paid $2,274 in 2020 municipal taxes. Municipal taxes are one item on a property owner’s total tax bill, which also includes school taxes and Mercer County taxes. The amount an individual pays in taxes is determined by the assessed value of his home and/or property, and the tax rate that is set by each taxing entity. On the revenues portion of the 2021 budget, Pennington will use $437,546 from the surplus as revenue in the budget. In the 2020 budget, officials used $366,915 from the surplus funds as revenue in the budget. Other revenues in the 2021 budget include $135,000 in uniform construction code fees, $187,581 in state aid, which
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