How did Madison residents end up paying no property tax increase in 2019 plus see their return of electric-rate excess profits increase to $2,000,000? In short, because Councilman Rowe advocated for Madison taxpayers.
Leveraging his years of experience of working on board of education and borough budgets, Councilman Rowe quickly reviewed the draft budget that was being presented to council back in February and noted that in 2018 the borough generated an additional $1,000,000 in surplus, yet had no plans to use any of that money to help the borough's taxpayers or utility ratepayers!
"The great news is that we're generating a lot of surplus, the better news would be a way if we could translate that into more savings for taxpayers, because we're . . . carrying $4.5 million of free balance. . . . I've made the point in the past that we really should take a hard look at how much money we have from year to year that we're not utilizing on behalf of taxpayers." --Councilman Rowe after reviewing the draft budget during the Feb 11, 2019, borough council meeting
The mayor, realizing this was not going to be a popular issue to defend in a mayoral election year, quickly “piggybacked” on Councilman Rowe’s request to reconsider raising taxes on residents by almost 2 percent when council was also simultaneously going to stuff another million into an array of accounts containing a total surplus of more than $13,000,000. Happily, the results of Rowe’s effort were to enable residents to garner a zero percent increase in property taxes while also adding an additional half a million to the electric-rate cut!
Click here to watch Councilman Rowe’s responsible governance in action during the February 11, 2019, borough council meeting:
https://vimeo.com/317001802#t=60m28s
Close oversight by our elected officials is the only protection taxpayers and ratepayers have against being overtaxed. To protect their hard-earned dollars, Madison taxpayers must choose their representatives wisely and make sure they have the business acumen to understand complex municipal and utility budgets.
Close oversight by our elected officials is the only protection taxpayers and ratepayers have against being overtaxed. To protect their hard-earned dollars, Madison taxpayers must choose their representatives wisely and make sure they have the business acumen to understand complex municipal and utility budgets.
Lucky for us, Councilman Rowe’s past effective service has demonstrated aptly that he can navigate and act as an independent representative when warranted, while collaborating with the majority party. Mayoral candidate Rob Catalanello and Rowe’s running mate, council candidate Kathy Dailey, are also willing and able to harness their private-sector experience to dive deep into fiscal details and administer them in a way that best enables the efficient managing of budgets to deliver real savings for the Madison community.
Kathy Dailey Re-Runs for Council
Resident Kathy Dailey, and member of Madison’s Utility Advisory Committee, joined incumbent Pat Rowe this year to vie again for a seat at the borough’s council table. Ms. Dailey is currently a senior manager with a Basking Ridge law firm, coordinating its legal operations. In addition to overseeing large research and document review projects across many team members within the firm, Ms. Dailey prepares for mergers and acquisitions and other major financial transactions. She also has a long track record of advocacy for the vulnerable and of selflessly volunteering for women- and youth-betterment programs. Ms. Dailey has been a leader in the Madison community for more than two decades.
“Apart from her managerial experience in the private sector, Dailey is an advocate for traffic safety for pedestrians and bicyclists and less congestion through more public transportation. If elected, Dailey can be relied on to advocate new ideas and ask probing questions,” --the Madison Eagle, October 2018
“Apart from her managerial experience in the private sector, Dailey is an advocate for traffic safety for pedestrians and bicyclists and less congestion through more public transportation. If elected, Dailey can be relied on to advocate new ideas and ask probing questions,” stated the Madison Eagle last October when Dailey took her first shot at winning a spot at the table but ultimately lost to a candidate from the majority party. Hoping again to unseat her opponent, Kathy Dailey has returned in 2019, ready and rarin’ to go. Ms. Dailey is eager to take this race to the finish line so she can show us all exactly the type of responsible oversight and fiscal common sense that she and her peer candidates promised that they would show us.
On November 5, 2019, please vote for the Republican slate of local candidates, Rob Catalanello for mayor and Pat Rowe and Kathy Dailey for Madison Borough Council.
