Jamesburg and Monroe Township are two different towns that share things. We share a high school and we even share a zip code. Being one town encircles the other we will always share things and always be affected by the other.
I would like to ask my neighbors of Monroe and Jamesburg along with our government offices something: why aren’t we one town? Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Jon Corzine both encouraged circle communities such as ours to combine. Why aren’t we listening?
We complain we don’t get state funding but do we consider state recommendations? I’ve been told Monroe is building low income housing to meet state quotas while Jamesburg appears to have abundance.
I live on the northwest edge of Monroe; to get to any other part of Monroe by car we must drive through the town of Jamesburg. If we have a fire at this end of town we have to wait for Monroe firetrucks to drive past the Jamesburg firehouse. Why?
Just the cost of government property alone – heating, cooling and insuring two town halls, two police buildings, two libraries, two road maintenance yards – is wasting money. We have two great towns with good government leaders but even good government costs money.
Perhaps not intentional, but it appears Monroe is financially choking Jamesburg. Across from my neighborhood is land slated to be developed into 300 age-restricted homes (potentially 600 drivers). These drivers will, like other Monroe residents, drive Jamesburg roads and make now-dangerous intersections disastrous. However, Jamesburg will not receive tax revenue to repair and maintain the roads or intersections. Monroe warehouse trucks destroy Jamesburg overpasses, causing overtime costs for police and road crews. Again, Jamesburg receives no tax revenue.
Monroe developers don’t even calculate the impact to Jamesburg because it’s a different town.
As for schools, if Monroe raised its education tax to build a new school, the cost for tuition tax will go up for Jamesburg high school students.
A tax increase without choice, without a voice. Jamesburg gets none of Monroe’s financial growth but certainly shares in the burden of it. This is now how neighbors should treat each other. I am asking – are we interested in learning what options we may have to help each other and while doing so lessen our taxes/government? I would like to see a committee publish its findings on combining. This will allow the taxpayers to decide what is best for our entire community.
Elizabeth Fagan
Monroe
