Commission Approves Princeton Consolidation Report

David Goldfarb expressed concern on Wednesday that the final report prepared by the Princeton Consolidation and Shared Study Commission advocates consolidation.

“I think it (the recommendation report) is well done but essentially it is a marketing tool to promote the idea of consolidation, to convince people that consolidation is a good thing,” he said. “It goes beyond what I think this report should do.”

Goldfarb, a member of Princeton Borough Council who also sits on the commission, was the lone dissenting vote when the commission voted 9-1 on May 25 to recommend that Princeton Borough and Princeton Township consolidate into a single entity.

Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman disagreed, saying the commission’s recommendation was based on months of data collection and analysis. 

“(That) leads me to believe there isn’t anything wrong with marketing it that way,” Trotman said. “We made our decision after studying all that material. I don’t understand why we would not want to market the recommendation.”

Bernie Miller, a member of Princeton Township Committee, agreed with Trotman.

“If we didn’t advocate for what we recommended, who would advocate for it,” Miller asked.

Goldfarb had previously suggested that the commission’s report should outline potential disadvantages to consolidation in order to address residents’ concerns. A one-sided report only touting the benefits of consolidation would not necessarily sway voters, he argued.

The commission incorporated those concerns into a revised draft report.

But Goldfarb was not satisfied on Wednesday.

“I would have liked to have seen that there are some disadvantages,” Goldfarb said. “That we’ve identified real concerns and those concerns cannot be fully addressed by consolidation; they represent disadvantages but on the commission still recommends consolidation.”

Township Mayor Chad Goerner seemed frustrated by Goldfarb’s comments.

“We took your input and spent an exhaustive session last week trying to incorporate it into the document,” Goerner said. “We did this so that we would be as inclusive as possible.”

The commission estimates consolidation could save $3.1 million in staff costs and redundancies.

Should both borough council and the township committee approve putting the consolidation question on the ballot, voters would weigh in on Nov. 8. 

Former Borough Mayor Marvin Reed sat in the audience during Wednesday’s meeting. During the public comment period, he commended the commission’s work.

“Consolidation doesn’t work unless you work together to reduce the cost of running the municipalities, that’s what it’s all about,” Reed said. “And that’s what comes shining through (in this report).”