Should we play ball?

Are we in Teaneck doing something wrong? Is it our fault that we have not yet opened the spigot to the thousands in potential subsidies from state government that other towns are grabbing to offset their expenses and keep taxes manageable? Have we been overlooking one of the keys to fiscal survival in the dog-eat-dog State of New Jersey?

While much evidence can be marshaled that large sums of money distributed through state aid programs are landing in municipalities other than ours, it's not so clear that we are particularly bad at securing what is rightfully coming to us. But suppose it could be proven that we are lagging behind where we should be, and that this is the fault of our local officials or our representatives at the state level. Would we be willing or able to do what it takes to bring home the bacon? Could we conceivably do it without selling out to some truly unsavory characters?

A disturbing report in today's Star Ledger gives readers a glimpse of how things get done in Trenton. It seems that many potentially helpful property tax reforms slated for enactment were killed at the last minute by the heavy duty lobbying of some powerful special interests. Large campaign contributions to Assembly Democrats were reportedly made just before important votes that could have imperiled certain costly state worker benefits or incentivized municipalities to save money by merging or share services. Predictably, many of these reforms were subsequently abandoned by the Legislature.

If this is business as usual, it doesn't look like a simple appeal for fairness will sway state legislators to send more money our way. How about mobilizing at the polls? Will the threat of losing a few votes from the most politically aware segment of Teaneck do much to move state representatives or party leaders? It seems doubtful. Those votes can easily be recouped elsewhere with a little extra campaign money from major contributors such as labor unions. Besides, there has to be a viable challenger for a few hundred votes to make a difference anyway.

That's not to say that we should not keep the heat on our legislators and demand better. But our primary demand shouldn't be a bigger piece of the pie. The most valuable thing Trenton can do for us is to radically reform the way things are done, not to write us a one time check.