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NEPTUNE REPUBLICANS SUGGEST POTENTIAL REVENUE STREAM

Democrats Push it Aside In Favor Of A Tax On The Good Guys

By Jim Granelli

At the September 13th Township Committee meeting, when presented with an idea that could bring a large revenue stream to Neptune Township, the 5 & 0 Democrat Monopoly seemed dismissive of a potentially good idea to bring in revenue for Neptune, while rushing head long into a Hotel Tax that would only hurt tourism.

Taking part in a pilot program by the N.J. State Police in order to increase traffic safety, the Boro of Glassboro, N.J.; along with other towns initiated the use of a traffic cameras to ticket vehicles running red lights or not stopping on red when making a right turn.

Glassboro realized a gross revenue of $35,000 in the first month, increasing to $110,000 in the most recently reported month of August with the first four months brought a net revenue $230,000 to Glassboro’s coffers. Extrapolating that on a year round basis, that could mean close to a million dollars in new revenue for Neptune Township.

According to Charles Callari, New Jersey regional business development director at American Traffic Solutions, “there’s no out-of-pocket expenses for the municipality or no up-front costs.”

When compared to the Neptune Democrat’s vague estimates of only $200,000 to $500,000 in revenue from a hotel tax that would impact tourism & Township business owners, Neptune’s Republicans feel that the brakes should be put on a hotel tax while this other potential revenue stream is investigated and possibly initiated in Neptune.

Warren Lapp, the Neptune Township Republican Township Committee Candidate commented, that “while the idea needs to be fully explored and questions answered; before we rush headlong into a Hotel Tax, maybe we should be checking out a revenue producer like this. Routes 33, 35 & 66 pass thru Neptune Township, along with thousands of vehicles. Instead of taxing those good people who want to spend money, maybe we should raise money from those that break our laws.

After all, it’s both a safety and revenue issue. We’ve also found out that many more towns in N.J. that are considering the use of red light cameras.

So, since the Democrats always seem to be in favor of what other towns have, like when Mayor Jahn talks about 280 or so towns having a hotel tax, here’s something other towns have, something that doesn’t punish tourists for spending money and hurt businesses that need increased income during a recession. Quite honestly, I don’t know why Randy Bishop & Eric Hougtaling, the Democrat Candidates don’t see this.

Why do we always have to tax our way out of a problem?” Lapp commented.

Posted: September 20th, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Hotel Tax, Jim Granelli, Neptune Township, Traffic Cams | 7 Comments »