Municipal Issues & Task Forces

Property Taxes | New Assessment | Mall Tax Rebate | Deer Problem | Top Towns

Property Tax	Daniel Graves Jeff Karp Charlotte Kobberger Liz O'Brien
New Assessment	to come
Mall Tax Rebate	to come
Deer Problem	to come
Top Towns	See article below

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Money Magazine August 2005 issue ranks top 100 towns in America but no mention of Millburn. Nearby Chatham came in at #9. What are we missing?

Four New Jersey communities made the Money Magazine top 100 list but there is no mention of Millburn. Here are the four municipalities and their rankings. Moorestown #1, Chatham #9, Princeton #15, Hackettstown #72.

Recent and ongoing reports written and being distributed by the citizen activism organization, WeLoveMillburn.com, might explain some of this loss of relevancy. Reports show that our schools are not holding onto their once best ratings, school spending has dramatically increased, property taxes have risen rapidly, the downtown merchants have struggled at times and other problems continue to plague our town like another reassessment, traffic, parking and ongoing deer over population.

Why didn't Millburn make the Money Magazine top 100 towns? Here is how Money Magazine collected their data for the list of Great American Towns. Money used the research firm of OnBoard of Brooklyn to collect the their data.* The research firm started with 1,321 towns with a population of at least 14,000, higher than medium income, positive population growth and real estate appreciation in the past five years. Then they screened out towns there weren't within 60 miles of a major airport and 30 miles of a major teaching hospital. They eliminated towns with low education scores, low-income growth, low art resources, heavy unemployment, high crime. With the finalists, they culled more data on education, environment, housing affordability, taxes, commute times. They interviewed residents and community leaders of the finalists and included criteria of vibrancy of downtowns, congestion, natural surroundings and sense of community.

In the past, it seemed wherever you traveled in the world, people knew Millburn/Short Hills. Now it would appear that the Short Hills Mall has more overall awareness than our town itself. It is always easy to make light of awards and rankings when you are not on the top list. In this case, a great deal of research went into the top 100 list and we should strive in the future to be included in the top 100 of this list and any other reputable publication listings.

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*Notes: Unless otherwise indicated, all data based on 2004 *Notes: Unless otherwise indicated, all data based on 2004

Jobs economy rank based on household income increase since 1990 and Bureau of labor Statistics country unemployment figures

Crime rank based on FBI crime reporting

Education rank based on the country's average student-to-teacher ratio from the National Center for Education Statistics and on the Educational Climate, which is based on the U.S. Census Bureau's socioeconomic status measure with weights adjusted to more strongly reflect the education level of an area's residents, generally considered a good proxy for school quality

Arts and Leisure rank based on count of arts and leisure resources, including museums, restaurants, recreation and park space
For a full list of original sources, go to money.cnn.com/best/bplive/

Source: OnBoard, Brooklyn (onboardllc.com)

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