Volume LXX, Number 13
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Peter Marks Announces He’ll Run for Mayor In Republican Primary
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Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Council Introduces 2016 Fiscal Budget
At Princeton Council’s meeting on Monday, March 28, members got a first look at the proposed budget for 2016. For the average household assessed at around $810,191, taxes will go up about $110, according to the town’s administrator Marc Dashield. Along with voting to introduce the $61.9 million municipal budget, Council approved a settlement with two former police officers involved in an illegal gun trade issue dating back six years. The governing body also heard reports about a growing bike share program on the Princeton University campus that is due to expand to the town, and efforts by local police to curb speeding, among other topics. In his presentation, Mr. Dashield said the town’s expenditures are up about 1.2 percent. But they have dropped $743,526 or 1.19 percent since 2011, he added. Three staff members are being added for recreation and open space maintenance. The budget “aligns with Council’s strategic goals to promote long-term fiscal planning and provide a financially sustainable community,” Mr. Dashield said. “I would characterize this budget as really being a maintenance budget for this year.”
Since council members Bernie Miller and Lance Liverman were absent at the meeting, a more detailed description of the budget will be given when they are present, likely on April 18, Mr. Dashield said. A public hearing would then be held on the issue April 25.
ment, with a gun dealer in 2007. As part of the deal, then-Chief Mark Emann had received two weapons in return. Mr. Emann implicated himself, Mr. Villaruz and Mr. Henderson to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. Mr. Villaruz and Mr. Henderson denied wrongdoing. While not charged criminally, they both retired and later claimed they were coerced into doing so. They left the department in 2010, along with Mr. Emann, who avoided criminal prosecution by taking
Local businessman Peter Marks has announced he will run for mayor in the Republican primary this June. Mr. Marks is the only candidate so far to challenge Lawsuit Settlement the incumbent, Democratic Mayor Liz Anti-Semitic Messages The resolution to award former LieuLempert, who will run for a second term at PU Sent by White tenant Michael Henderson and Corporal in the November general election. Supremacist Hacker . . . 7 Arthur S. Villaruz $200,000 dates from “I’m running because I was asked to 2010. The issue concerns the illegal trade Rally Against Wage Theft run,” said Mr. Marks, who has made two Continued on Page 8 Planned . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 of an antique rifle, owned by the departunsuccessful tries for seats on the governing body. “I agreed, because it offers a After Brussels Attacks, platform to initiate or expand a discussion Thoughts on Hamlet’s that the town needs to have, that seems World Tour and Ten Seato have been engaged in by a relatively sons of MI-5 . . . . . . . . 16 small number of people.” Princeton Public Schools (PPS) will elementary and middle school grades. No . 11 PU Women’s Lax Raised in Princeton, Mr. Marks, who is administer the 2016 PARCC (Partnership This year the test itself and the plans Edges Harvard 6-5 . . . 25 a commercial real estate developer, lives for Assessment of Readiness for College for administering it have been significantin the Moore Street house where he grew Hun Baseball Featuring and Careers) Tests April 11-29 for all stu- ly improved from last year, according to up. Zoning is among his biggest concerns, Mound Depth, Solid dents in grades three through 11 — but both the State Department of Education specifically as it affects the changing Hitting . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 how many students will show up? (DOE) and the Princeton Public Schools, character of the downtown. In its first year last year nearly 800 of but the New Jersey Education Associa“Related to this is the discussion of the 1164 students in grades nine through 11 tion (NJEA) teachers’ union and Save operating budget, which is what gives us declined to take the PARCC, with only Our Schools NJ parents and community our property taxes,” he said. “The influ30 of 370 juniors taking the test, though members organization and many other ence that Council should or shouldn’t participation numbers were higher in the Continued on Page 23 have over the school system, the county expenditures, the rules that the state imposes — it’s a big package.” Also prominent on Mr. Marks’s list is the way pensions are handled. “It seems to me one possibility is some sort of negotiated transition, on terms that the recipients find acceptable, replacing a refined Colin Taylor Poised to benefit plan with a refined contribution Shine as PHS Baseball plan,” he said. Starts Season . . . . . . . 28 Mr. Marks believes consolidation has Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 not produced the results many expected. Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 “Whatever its merits, I think it was sold on the wrong basis,” he said. “It was sold Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 22 as a means of controlling expenditures. Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 18 From my little vantage point at Moore and Hawthorne streets, it seems this has Classified Ads . . . . . . . 34 been by cutting back services in the forClubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 mer Borough that the Borough could have cut back itself. If we wanted less frequent Music/Theater . . . . . . 17 leaf and brush removal or less frequent Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 snow removal, we could have voted for it. If we wanted to substitute large quantities Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 33 of salt for snow plowing, we could have Police Blotter . . . . . . . 8 voted for that.” Real Estate . . . . . . . . 34 The AvalonBay rental complex rising on the site of the former Princeton HosReligion . . . . . . . . . . . 33 pital is another concern. “I was not happy Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 with the decision to rezone the hospital site to permit what we’ve ultimately been Topics of the Town . . . . 5 saddled with, which1is 3/1/16 a five-story CB NJ Princeton Town Topics-Shred HP 3.2.16_Layout 5:23wooden PM Page PDS 1 GYM HOSTS THE GREAT GAME OF THE BOOK: According to a Princeton University senior at this year’s Bryn MawrTown Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Continued on Page 12
PARCC Testing 2016: Opting In or Out? Controversy Continues in Second Year
Wellesley Book Sale, “The act of finding a book is an experience .” See this week’s Town Talk for comments from other players in the great game of book-quest . Today, Wednesday, from 10 a .m . to 3 p .m . is Box Day . (Photo by Emily Reeves)
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