THE STATE OF HAMILTON
Mayor Yaede delivers annual speech, touts embattled animal shelter, new entertainment options, possible tax cuts >>
HAMILTON >> Republican Mayor Kelly Yaede is courting a possible 2019 municipal tax cut, touting economic development and describing the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter as one of the best pet facilities in the United States of America as she seeks reelection to another term.
“Violations at our animal shelter, they have been addressed, identified,” Yaede said Wednesday during her 2019 State of the Township address at the Stone Terrace banquet hall. “And we have one of the finest animal shelters in the state of New Jersey if not in the country.”
The New Jersey Department of Health last summer cited the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter with numerous violations for the facility failing to comply with certain state laws or regulations. Hamilton Council under Democratic leadership is conducting an ongoing, bipartisan investigation into the shelter’s operations and maintenance.
Yaede has served as Hamilton’s first female mayor since November 2012, but she has never before proposed a municipal tax cut. Last year the mayor recommended a 5 percent tax hike — a proposal that Hamilton Council later amended into a less painful 2.5 percent increase — but Yaede on Wednesday said it is “so important” for the township to possibly decrease the municipal purpose tax rate this year.
“Your taxes will not increase this year in Hamilton Township,” she said. “However, what I’ve asked my staff to do: ‘Go back, let’s sharpen our pencils, see how we can save and provide Hamilton Township residents, business owners with a property tax decrease this year.’”
“Hamilton Township realizes the second lowest tax bill in Mercer County,” she added. “Over the last five years, your taxes have increased by 6.23 percent, which is only 1.25 percent each year. Spending has only increased 1.08 percent. We’ve been recognized in Hamilton Township as the biggest bang for your buck.”
With a new Walmart opening up on Nottingham Way and Route 33 becoming invigorated with new commercial activity at previously vacant sites, the township has a “very diversified economic development plan and businesses here in Hamilton Township,” Yaede said.
Republican mayoral candidate David Henderson attended Yaede’s State of the Township address Wednesday and bashed her afterward.
“I saw no vision,” Henderson, who hopes to defeat Yaede in the June 4 GOP primary election, said of the mayor’s speech. “I’m disappointed she did not address the important issues of Trenton Water Works’ deteriorating infrastructure and massive amount of debt she has accumulated. It is completely irresponsible for her to announce the prospect of a tax reduction as a political campaign issue in light of that indebtedness.”
Henderson also accused the mayor of lying, saying she was wrong when she said township residents are on track to collectively save $3 million from energy aggregation and when she said Hamilton has overcome a prior challenge from an Ebola scare.
The mayor after the speech admitted she misspoke, saying she meant to say the township has been tested with cases of Hepatitis A — not Ebola — in addition to enterovirus D-68 in recent years.
Hamilton Council President Jeff Martin, a Democrat also running for Hamilton Township mayor this year, boycotted Yaede’s 2019 State of the Township address.
“Today I watched the State of the Township address via a Facebook livestream at Town Hall,” he said Wednesday in a press statement. “I refused to pay to listen to an address from an administration that refuses to work with council.”
“I find it appalling the mayor did not address many important issues residents want to hear about, such as Trenton Water Works, and instead talked about public records requests,” Martin added. “Clearly her priorities are misplaced to think fighting transparency is more important than clean drinking water.”
Yaede near the end of her 23-minute speech said there has been and “there continues to be an effort to grind Hamilton Township’s government to a halt by politically motivated public records requests continuously under aliases.”
The statement appears to have been directed at Henderson, who has bombarded the township with numerous Open Public Records Act requests since January 2018 and has filed a few lawsuits in cases where the township took too long to respond to his inquiries.
More than 50,000 pages of information have been given out in response to OPRA requests, according to Yaede, who said “Our Hamilton workers have never faltered in delivering their services.”
In terms of Yaede hinting at a possible municipal tax cut, “I’m happy to hear that the mayor finally recognizes that keeping taxes as low as possible for our residents is a top priority,” Martin said, “and that our residents should not be subjected to 5 percent tax increases like she has proposed in prior years.”
Yaede hopes to be reelected to a second full term this November. In her big speech, she announced the township is “on target to realize a 10 percent decrease in crime here in Hamilton Township.”
The mayor also announced Hamilton will have three entertainment centers by the end of the year and said the former PSEG coal-burning power plant on Duck Island has been sold to Hilco Redevelopment Partners, who in turn will transform the property into a “state-ofthe-art distribution center” with a recreation area included.
Yaede also complimented the township’s sewer utility system, saying: “We have not increased the sewer authority rate in over 10 years, and I believe it is a true public asset.”
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Democratic Hamilton Councilman Rick Tighe and Republican Councilwoman Ileana Schirmer joined Council President Martin at the Hamilton Township Municipal Building Wednesday afternoon as the three of them watched Yaede’s speech from a Facebook livestream rather than attend the lunchtime event in person.
“She can’t come to council meetings,” Schirmer said of the mayor. “Why should we go to her State of the Township?”
Bill Argust, a Hamilton Republican aligned with Henderson, questioned whether the township is truly on track to experience 10 percent reduction in crime: “I would like to know where she got her data from,” he said at the luncheon.
JoAnne Bruno, a Hamilton Democrat, also attended the speech in person and was not impressed. “All
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