Gov. Chris Christie has oft been accused of packing his town halls with a “soft” crowd of partisan supporters, primed to fawn at his every utterance. But the welcome mat for his latest foray into Middlesex County was not so welcoming.
Electronic signs posted outside the St. George Greek Orthodox Church demanded the governor return $3.4 million in energy tax receipts to the city.
“Welcome to Piscataway Governor. Please return $3.4 million in energy money,” the sign blared.
Energy tax receipts have been a hop topic among local officials this year as mayors across the state have banded together to demand that the state return the bulk of the receipts to the municipalities where they say it rightly belongs.
The history of the taxes is long and involved, but the short version is municipalities used to collect the taxes directly as payment for utility infrastructure on municipal rights of way until the state stepped in. Now the money that use to benefit the townships goes into the state coffers.
Mayor Brian Wahler said Wednesday the signs were his idea and are a way to let Christie know the issue is not going away.
“The point of the matter is the governor and the treasurer are just blowing the issue off,” Wahler said shortly after the town hall meeting. “It’s one of the only revenue streams that municipalities had. It doesn’t belong to the state, it belongs to the municipal taxpayer. What it is doing is devaluing our right of ways.”
The governor, as his his style, did not let Wahler get away unscathed. While addressing the crowd, Christie accused the Democratic mayor, who easily won re-election Tuesday, of having a “big mouth” on just about everything else, but being silent on taxes.
Told of the swipe, Wahler fired back, comparing his record to Christie’s.
“I’ll put my record of accomplishment in this municipality up against his any time,” he said.
