Last night, the Chester Township Council passed the 2019 municipal budget, which includes no increase in the municipal tax levy. As liaison to our finance department, I couldn't be more proud of the work that went into this budget - from our mayor, the Council, our Chief Financial Officer, our Administrator, and each department head. The process of creating the budget and the result itself were sound, responsible, and respectful of the taxpayer. The Top-Line Numbers The Chester Township budget for 2019 is $14,770,399.81, of which $8,669,600.78 is raised through property taxes for municipal purposes. The rest is accounted for in grants, state aid, and revenues such as building and construction permits and our shared service agreements (more below). It was a pleasure to once again welcome Senator Tom Kean to Chester tonight. Special thanks to co-hosts Mayor Marcia Asdal and Councilman Tim Drag. We had a solid discussion about the reality of New Jersey’s fiscal crisis.
This morning, Mayor Marcia Asdal and I had our first meeting with Chester Township's CFO to discuss the 2019 budget. The budget process is truly my favorite part of serving on the Council. You not only see firsthand how years of responsible decision-making, conservative budgeting, and shared services have helped Chester Township avoid major tax increases or emergency spending, but also identify areas for new thinking and better prioritization. I'm totally focused on helping deliver a fiscally responsible 2019 budget. Stay tuned for additional updates this spring.
Check out the below story from the Observer Tribune about our continued efforts to streamline local government and find new opportunities to share services. You can also click here to access the article.
Mendham, Chester, Washington Township officials consider more shared services Representatives from the Chesters, Mendhams and Washington Township have been getting together over the past two months to explore additional ways to share services. The Ad Hoc Shared Service Task Force was initiated by Mendham Township Committeewoman Sarah Neibart with help from Chester Township Councilman Mike Inganamort in an effort to have the towns help each other more on a regional basis. Although the group has only met twice, talks are ongoing and the idea of sharing equipment and manpower in a number of municipal departments in order to reduce costs now and in the future is gaining traction. “It’s something both Sarah and I had discussed a few months back,’’ Inganamort said. “I think it was because we were both new to our governing bodies. We thought it would be worthwhile. We have had two meetings and they both went really well.’’ One of the most important responsibilities of an elected official is to steward taxpayer dollars in a responsible way. In New Jersey, that typically requires balancing expensive state mandates with local needs. In my six months on the Chester Township Council - and as liaison to our finance office - I've seen firsthand the diligent, long-term planning that has put our town in a strong financial position, able to sustain the types of unforeseen events that would otherwise trigger very expensive tax increases.
Chester Township's budget The Chester Township budget for 2018-2019 is $14,121,524, of which $8,669,609 is raised through property taxes. The rest is generated through revenues such as our shared services agreements (Chester Borough pays Chester Township $120,000 for police services, Mendham Township pays Chester Township $30,000 for municipal court services), building and construction permits, cell towers, and other sources. Separate and apart from the Chester Township budget are the budgets from the Chester School District (42% of your tax bill), the West Morris High School District (24% of your tax bill), and Morris County (12% of your tax bill). The Chester Township budget is 21% of the total tax bill. Thank you to everyone who attended our January 3rd Chester Township re-organization meeting. It is such an honor to serve and to have been sworn into office by our Morris County Sheriff, James Gannon. I'm truly humbled and, by the looks of it, eager to see how Ella does on the Council, too.
Hope you can join us on Wednesday, January 3rd at 7:00pm at Town Hall (1 Parker Road) for Chester Township's annual reorganization meeting. We'll have Sheriff James Gannon administering the oath of office, and then dive right in to a short agenda. See you there!
We won big last night and have you to thank for it! Meeting so many of our neighbors and talking about the future of our town has taught us so much and deepened our commitment to making Chester Township as great in ten, twenty, and thirty years as it is today.
I'm thrilled with the result, honored by your support, and serious about the work ahead. I also know I can't do any of this alone. I hope you'll stay engaged in the progress of our town by attending Council meetings, volunteering to serve on local boards and committees, and responding to our future calls for support for key initiatives. Thank you the Observer Tribune for their endorsement! Read below.
In the township, Inganamort is trying for his first run at elected office while Moore has been a longtime school board member. While he may be new to local politics, Inganamort has an interesting resume of involvement on the national level. He worked for a few years in the office of former Rep. Scott Garrett and helped with President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004. Inganamort also has financial skills that he applies as the managing principal at a Morristown-based firm that develops policy solutions for New Jersey foundations. Locally, Inganamort wants to boost shared services and improve the athletic fields next to the Black River Middle School, both worthy goals. As an indication of the support he has on the council, Moore was picked to fill the balance of the term created after Matt Cass resigned in the spring. Moore has lived in town since 1980 and has broad experience as chairman of the Planning Board. He also serves on the Board of Adjustment and is a past president of the Chester Board of Education. Owner of a small business, Moore has the experience and savvy to keep costs down. Inganamort and Moore will be strong additions to the council. We endorse them for election to the Chester Township Council. It has been raining buckets today, but not enough to stop Assemblyman Anthony Bucco and Mike from talking with Chester Township voters at their doors. Once again, we heard from many voters who would like to leave New Jersey on account of the high taxes. Thanks for coming out, enduring the rain, and hearing this important message, Assemblyman!
One of the highlights of this race has been the opportunity to campaign alongside Carlos Rendo, the Republican nominee for Lt. Governor. For Carlos to make a detour in his busy campaign schedule to visit us in Chester was, therefore, especially meaningful.
Carlos and Mike worked together on Senator Marco Rubio's campaign for president, spending time in New Hampshire and Florida in support of the candidate. They later co-hosted a New Jersey fundraiser for Senator Rubio's re-election campaign. Those experiences provided a glimpse of Carlos's tremendous loyalty and determination, which have once again shined this year. We're all in, Carlos! Check out the below excerpts from the Observer Tribune's coverage of our race. You can also click here for the full article.
Campaigning suits Chester Township Council candidates Mike Inganamort has more experience working for campaigns than being the focus of one. However, the Chester Township Republican has found that running his own campaign and getting out to talk to voters suits him. [...] “People enjoy being engaged,’’ Inganamort said. “The first time you ring the doorbell and people look at you in suspicion and think what are you trying to sell me or are you trying to convert me to something. When I tell them I am running for town council, people start to engage. [...] [P]eople find it interesting that...people still go door to door in this age of technology and everything else. I’ve had so many good conversations on people’s doorsteps.’’ Big thanks to everyone who attended last night's Chester Professional Networking Night. The event was even bigger and more productive than our committee anticipated - and there was a lot of enthusiasm to do something like this again in the future. Observer Tribune: Chester Township meet-and-greet brings business people together It’s not often a municipality hosts a business networking night but that is what the township did in a meeting at the Barn in Chester on Thursday, Oct. 19. A total of 52 business people engaged in a wide variety of professions attended the township’s first professional networking night to meet, exchange ideas and pursue opportunities for collaboration. The meet and greet was the first event held by the township’s Marketing and Communications Committee. By all accounts it seemed to be a success as attendees met with each other, exchanged business cards and undoubtedly found out that they were neighbors or had some other bond to go along with living or working in Chester. Click here for the full article. Pumpkins on the front porch are great, but it's just not fall until your lawn is adorned with one of our snazzy yard signs.
Stop by the Chester Library at 6:00pm TONIGHT (Wednesday, October 18th) to pick up one or more signs from this year's Republican ticket. And if you can't make it, just let us know and we'll do our best to drop one off for you. A great way to kick off a campaign weekend is with a packed house for Senator Tony Bucco, Assemblymen Michael Patrick Carroll & Anthony M. Bucco, and our next Lt. Governor Carlos A. Rendo at the District 25 Republican Campaign Headquarters. We're going to deliver big margins for the whole ticket in Chester Township this year.
It was also helpful to compare notes with the rest of the West Morris ticket. For our neighbors to the east and west, check out Council candidates Rick Blood in Mendham Township and Matt Murello in Washington Township. These are two solid candidates who I look forward to working with next year and beyond. Daily Record: Morris GOP open campaign office in Rockaway Great to have Senator Tony Bucco and Assemblyman Anthony Bucco join us for breakfast at the Chester American Legion this morning.
We're fueled up for a busy day! On Saturday, September 16th, be sure to stop by the Municipal Open House at 1 Parker Road between 9:00am and 12:00pm. Meet and greet many of the hard working employees of Chester Township; learn about Health Department programs, recycling programs, and construction permits; find out how you can get your water tested; and sign-up to receive newsletters and emergency communications. You can even have your child safety seats checked. There will be displays, handouts, free refreshments, and prizes. See you there!
On Tuesday, September 19th, consider stopping by the regularly-scheduled Council meeting at which our Marketing & Communications Committee will present some interesting data on Chester Township's real estate market. Are home values up or down? How long do homes sit on the market? How do list prices compare to purchase prices? We'll have all the answers on Tuesday night. As hosts to New Jersey's biggest and best craft show, our friends in Chester Borough and the Historic Chester Business Association pulled off another great event this past weekend, and the beautiful weather certainly helped. We spent Saturday and Sunday checking out the vendors on Municipal Field and all along Main Street. We've been visiting the craft show since we were kids, but we have even more appreciation for all the hard work that goes into it now.
Special thanks, also, to the Chester Volunteer Fire Company for their silent color guard on Monday, September 11th in honor of the victim's of the 9/11 attacks. A moving tribute and important tradition. We spent our Saturday morning with New Jersey's next Governor, Kim Guadagno, whose energy on the campaign trail is unrivaled. Those of us at the bottom of the ticket compared notes and committed to a big vote goal for Kim in Chester Township. We then spent the afternoon with Carlos Rendo, New Jersey's next Lt. Governor. Carlos and Mike are friends from the Marco Rubio campaigns, so it was great to catch up with him and campaign together.
The top concern we heard from voters was related to taxes. While Chester Township has so much going for it, our state overall is becoming unaffordable. Too many of our friends and neighbors are looking at ways to move out of New Jersey and flee our state's oppressive tax burden. We'll need to work together to hold the line on taxes. Thank you to the more than 40 friends, neighbors, and family members who made our Friday night kick-off with Senate Republican Leaader Tom Kean Jr. and Congressman Leonard Lance such a success. We're grateful to the many local leaders who joined us, including Senator Tony Bucco, Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, Sheriff James Gannon, County Clerk Ann Grossi, Freeholders Doug Cabana and Christine Myers, Freeholder candidate Heather Darling, County Republican Chair Patti Page, and Mayor Marcia Asdal.
"I've known Mike for many years," said Senator Kean, "and his passion for service and good government is exactly what we need more of." "[Mike] is an up-and-coming Republican who is going to win in November," added Senator Bucco. "[He will be] and be an asset to the Council and the residents of Chester Township." Please join Senator Tom Kean, Jr., Republican Leader of the New Jersey Senate,
and special guest Congressman Leonard Lance for Mike's fall campaign kick-off! Friday, September 8th 6:00 – 8:00 PM The Inganamort Residence $60 per person $100 per couple $250 to host (incl. 4 tickets) $35 for Young Republicans Chester residents & past donors, please be our guest Please RSVP to mikeinganamort[a]gmail.com In the middle of all this campaigning, I was pleased to host a visiting delegation of Australian Members of Parliament sponsored by the US State Department and American Council of Young Political Leaders. We sat down with Sheriff James Gannon, County Clerk Ann Grossi, Freeholder Hank Lyon, Somerset County Freeholder Director Peter Palmer, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (this was bipartisan, after all), Senator Cory Booker's state director, and many other dignitaries. Big thanks to fellow ACYPL alum Erica Jedynak for all her help!
But the highlight for the group was our visit to Alstede Farms and the Morris County 4-H Fair in Chubb Park. Big thanks to Kurt, Sam, and Maxine at Alstede Farms for the warm welcome, and for showing these Aussies why New Jersey really is the Garden State. Last Friday, we were pleased to welcome Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno to the Morris County 4-H Fair in Chester Township, and to introduce her to so many local families. From top to bottom, the Republican ticket was out in force, including Senator Tony Bucco, Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, and Freeholder candidate Heather Darling. Thanks also to Freeholder Doug Cabana and Mayor Marcia Asdal for joining us. As the Lt. Governor said herself, "Kim and Mike are the taxpayer team!"
Having spent most weeknights since early April knocking on doors in Chester Township, I've gotten a good sense of residents' top priorities.
Taxes top the list and it's not even close. Too many people are being forced to leave New Jersey; more than 150 of the residents I spoke with said they expect (or hope) to move out of New Jersey in the next five years. If our elected leaders do not get a hold of our state’s affordability crisis, more families will leave, more wealth will flee, and our brain drain will worsen. This has to be the top priority of every candidate and elected official in New Jersey. At a more local level, the quality of our recreation facilities and the process for renovating homes were high on the list. I look forward to working with our mayor and Council on each of these issues, if I am elected to the Council this fall. These conversations did more than just highlight important issues, of course. They also helped reveal the character of the people we all bump into at ShopRite or the gas station or the soccer field. One of the first things I learned, in fact, was that when you knock on a family's door, you're really asking for a peak into their personal lives. What I saw immeasurably increased my faith in community and civility. I met more than a few Chester Township residents who are the original owners of their 1960s-era homes. One, a Korean War veteran, told me stories about his time on the U.S.S. Wisconsin off the Korean coast and his triumphant return to Chester where he built a house for his young family. Another told me about her nine children, thirty grandchildren, and nineteen great-grandchildren (with the twentieth on the way). I met a woman who had just returned from chemotherapy, a man who was told by doctors he had one year left to live, and a woman on the occasion of her 43rd wedding anniversary – her first as a widow. She asked me to put down my clipboard and give her a hug because, in her words, there was no one else to hug that day. I helped a woman pick some weeds, and a gentleman install a bird bath. I brought people their newspapers, from the New York Times to the New York Post. On hot days, I was offered iced tea. On weekends, I was offered beer. I interrupted a few family dinners and caused some people to be late for lacrosse practice, but it was all for a good enough reason and people were extremely gracious and polite. I must have met 300 dogs, yet thankfully came away with no bites (and far more sympathy for the mailman). I also met a bunch of kids – happy and free to open the front door not knowing who was on the other side. There’s hardly a better indication for how safe our town is, nor how lucky we are to live here. Chester Township has a remarkable history shaped, in part, by these residents and many other hardworking, dedicated volunteers. From what I’ve seen at 800 door stoops, I know our future will be just as bright. We did it! Thank you so much to everyone who played a part in last night's big win. We took nearly 43% of the vote in the three-way Republican primary for Chester Township Council. That's a result we can all be proud of, and it's what happens when you run a relentlessly positive, energetic, and hardworking campaign. On to November!
We're all in this together When you think of all the people who have donated time and energy to Chester Township, Derek Moore and Mike Noll are at the top of the list. They have helped make this the special community we all love, and for that we're deeply grateful. I spoke with Derek and Mike and let them know that, if I'm able to give back to Chester Township a fraction of what they have given, it will be an enormous contribution. My sincere and total thanks to Derek Moore and Mike Noll for challenging me, preparing me for the job, and ultimately making me a better person. We're all in this together. Let's make Chester beautiful again If you have one of our signs in your yard or on a nearby street, please find time over the next couple days to remove it and leave it by your garage. We'd like to collect as many of our signs as we can. As a courtesy, let's also help the other candidates - especially Derek and Mike - collect their signs as well. Stay engaged! One of the benefits of a competitive primary election is that each candidate attracts new people to the process. It's an opportunity for us all to be a little more civic. If this campaign has encouraged you or a friend to be more involved, please consider attending tonight's Council meeting (Wednesday, June 7th). You'll get a sense of the hard work our mayor and Council are doing to make Chester Township such a great place. We'll be staying engaged over the summer, but I also have some catching up to do - with my family, with my overgrown landscaping, and with my unpainted deck. So you won't see me at your door stoop any time soon. But it was a real trip and I enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you. Mike |