Holden Endorses GOP Running Mates

Madison Mayor Mary-Anna Holden today announced her endorsement for her fellow Republican running mates, Bob Landrigan and Martin Barbato, for Borough Council. (Her statement follows below.)

Madison needs a Council that is running on all six cylinders. Out of the six officials elected to the Borough Council, there are only four who fulfill their prescribed duties and in addition, Robert Catalanello and Jeannie Tsukamoto, fill in consistently for Sam Cerciello and Bob Conley, who are quick to identify perceived “problems” and either have no departmental reports nor offer solutions to the Borough’s concerns, nor in the case of Mr. Conley offered any long-range capital planning although sitting in the finance committee chair for two years.

Madison needs a return to the forward-looking projections of Martin Barbato, who is Foster-Wheeler assistant general counsel, and who as a Councilman from 1994-2000 instituted fiscal policies that brought Madison to a coveted AAA-debt rating after creating budget-preparation guidelines and a 20-year capital plan that better prepared Madison’s infrastructure for its future.

It needs the continued volunteerism and innovative thinking of Bob Landrigan, an experienced real estate tax and corporate compliance executive with Chase Bank, who as the volunteer Office of Emergency Management coordinator has brought thousands of federal reimbursement dollars to the Borough and prepared for and led the Borough’s response during Hurricane Irene.

It’s time to roll out the big blackboard for Mr. Conley and explain yet again how building fields makes fiscal sense, as does the resurfacing of Green Avenue that he wanted to also ‘put off.’

Here are the financial facts:

With interest rates at an all-time low, and thanks to the commitment of the sports programs using the artificial turf fields to pay the interest with user fees, the interest-only note is at no cost to the Borough.  In fact, the amount of user fees already collected exceeds the total amount of annual interest three times over.  On top of this, there is the projected cost savings (more on this later) and an aggressive fundraising effort to satisfy the note.  All together, it’s a true public/private partnership.

Simply put, the Republican Councilmembers who voted to move ahead on fields construction have demonstrated fiscally sound management.  They have taken advantage of the AAA-debt rating to develop a workable plan to solve a 15-year-plus problem that goes to the heart of quality of life.
  
The taxpayer will note that no objections were raised by Mr. Conley when he voted for bond ordinances totaling over $2 million for road improvements and a $4.7 million note, plus monies from the General Capital Improvement Fund, to purchase the 49-acre parcel recently annexed behind .  Who is to repay those funds?  The taxpayer.

Similarly, with Green Avenue, waiting to apply next year and ‘possibly’ receive a grant toward funding this project does not solve today’s potholes.  In fact, Mr. Conley was told repeatedly that grant funding was unlikely as the Borough had not completed other grant-awarded road projects and would thus be scored poorly in this grant round. Likewise, he has been informed every time we apply to receive a grant, that they are only given on a reimbursable basis. Therefore, even if successful in receiving a grant, the Council still has to appropriate and spend the money up front, the State reviews the work done and then reimburses for the project, and not always in a timely way. 

Interestingly, Councilmember Tsukamoto was able to cobble together this year enough leftover, completed-projects ordinance monies to rebuild Green Avenue.  Although Mr. Conley protested the Green Avenue project, in September, 2009, he and former council member Astri Baillie, his campaign manager, had failed to follow the capital budget and apply for a grant, and approved $510,000 for the reconstruction of Pomeroy Road.

And now, the all-volunteer Madison Athletic Foundation (MAF) is under attack, and Mr. Conley is again lusting for the private $100,000 outright donation made to the MAF in 2008, erroneously stating that this money was for a ‘Pit’ fields project.  If he is asking about funds, Mr. Conley needs to ask himself where is the $1 million that was earmarked on October 10, 2007, on his motion, for synthetic turf fields from the sale of the old Health Center Building on Central Avenue?   

Nowhere does Mr. Conley offer even one course correction in fundraising by the MAF nor a way to get to ‘yes’ in developing fields.  In fact, Mr. Conley’s so-called fundraising expertise has yet to offer any concrete idea, only criticism, and no offers to help – although asked. 

And just why did Mr. Conley think the public voted overwhelmingly to fund an Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation Trust Fund (OSRHP) — and I underscore Recreation — to leverage the purchase of 49 acres in Florham Park as a $13 million meadow?  He voted for acquisition.  What was his intention? Or maybe he wasn’t paying attention during the repeated applications for county trust funds for recreational facilities.

For rational people with an understanding of finance, it is clearer to visualize how these fields are providing for our community’s future.  Simply put, beyond fundraising and the OSRHP Trust Fund:

A primary source for payment of the principal would be cost savings.  With a projected break-even point between the costs of the turf field and the annual cost savings from the avoided natural grass maintenance (mowing, watering, applying fertilizer and pesticides, and grooming and striping fields) of under ten years, the cost savings alone could satisfy the principal amount of the note.  This is before factoring in revenue from fundraising, sponsorships or tournament play, and without considering the OSRHP funds. 

On top of it all, consider a kindergartner athlete will have played their entire
pre-high school ‘career’ on safe, well-drained, state-of-the-art, injury-free fields.  From there, they can continue at the high school synthetic turf field. Is Mr. Conley saying he preferred the more expensive approach of natural turf?

Short on facts, ideas and bare of a single accomplishment, other than joining his Council cronies in raising taxes 15% in 2007 when the Borough had $48 million of cash on hand, Mr. Conley has not earned the public’s vote in any leadership role in this community.

It’s time to elect a team that has the time and experience invested to know what it is doing; has a track record of conscientiously fulfilling their designated jobs and commitments, and one that identifies problems and solves them. That is why clearly on Nov. 8, Madison needs to elect the Republican team of Bob Landrigan and Martin Barbato for Council, and re-elect Mary-Anna Holden as Mayor.

The author is the Republican candidate for mayor of Madison.