Posts Tagged ‘Policy’

A good first step towards Trenton’s revitalization is reinventing its tax system. Restructuring the tax system will take strong leadership, a good ability to communicate and a desire to be a leader in NJ’s efforts to reinvent its urban centers. My hope is that our next mayor can take up the mantle of making this important change. Read the rest of this entry »

Propose your own strategic 2012 Trenton Budget

Ask any businessman and they will tell you that budgeting is one of the hardest parts of running a company. Budgets force the organization to choose between activities that increase revenue, make customers happy and reduce costs. Spend too much money reducing costs and your revenue could dry up. Spend too much chasing new revenue and existing customers get fed up and leave.

There’s no reason to think cities should work much differently. The biggest difference is the customers (citizens) are a good bit more vested because their largest investment is their home.

The budget is the city’s main policy document

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Trenton is far from average

Trenton’s median income is in the bottom 9% of communities in New Jersey. Our schools are in the bottom 2% and our crime is in the bottom 1%. Real median income (adjusted for inflation) in Trenton actually declined 6.7% during the ‘90s while New Jersey’s median income rose 4%.

Because our income level and resulting tax base is so low we receive subsidies from the rest of the state most notably Abbott funding. To be a sustainable community we need to pay our own way which means our income must be in the 50^th percentile, roughly that of Hamilton.

One can argue though that an urban city in New Jersey with “average” income would be a great place to live.

Making revitalization decisions isn’t easy

Trenton has been trying to revitalize for many years but with little success, therefore its time to realize that if revitalization were easy everybody could do it. Read the rest of this entry »