Editing Victory Gardens, New Jersey (section)

===Local government===
Victory Gardens is governed under the [[Borough (New Jersey)|borough]] form of New Jersey municipal government, which is used in 218 municipalities (of the 564) statewide, making it the most common form of government in New Jersey.<ref>[https://njdatabook.rutgers.edu/sites/njdatabook.rutgers.edu/files/documents/inventory_of_municipal_forms_of_government_in_new_jersey.pdf ''Inventory of Municipal Forms of Government in New Jersey''], [[Rutgers University]] Center for Government Studies, July 1, 2011. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref> The governing body is comprised of the mayor and the borough council, with all positions elected [[at-large]] on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. The mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The borough council includes six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle.<ref name=DataBook>''2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book'', [[Rutgers University]] [[Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy]], March 2013, p. 116.</ref> The borough form of government used by Victory Gardens is a "[[weak mayor]] / strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie. The mayor can [[veto]] ordinances subject to an [[veto override|override]] by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council.<ref>Cerra, Michael F. [http://www.njslom.org/magart0307_p14.html "Forms of Government: Everything You've Always Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924045019/http://www.njslom.org/magart0307_p14.html |date=2014-09-24 }}, [[New Jersey State League of Municipalities]]. Accessed November 30, 2014.</ref><ref>[https://njdatabook.rutgers.edu/sites/njdatabook.rutgers.edu/files/documents/forms_of_municipal_government_in_new_jersey_9220.pdf#page=6 "Forms of Municipal Government in New Jersey"], p. 6. [[Rutgers University]] Center for Government Studies. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref><ref name=MayorCouncil/>

{{As of|2023}}, the [[mayor]] of Victory Gardens is [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] David L. Holeman Jr., whose term of office ends December 31, 2024. Members of the Borough Council are Vera C. Cheatham (D, 2025), Ondria Garcia-Montes (D, 2024), James R. Glass (D, 2025), Stuart Hale (D, 2023), Kendyll Hedgepath (D, 2024) and Ismael Lorenzo Sr. (D, 2023).<ref name=MayorCouncil>[http://www.victorygardensnj.gov/mayor-council.html Borough Government], Borough of Victory Gardens. Accessed April 27, 2023. "The Borough form remains the single most popular form of local government in New Jersey. This form dates back to the Borough Act of 1878 and was revised in 1897 and by the Borough Act of 1987. The Borough mayor is elected at-large to a four-year term. Six council members are elected at-large to staggered three-year terms. The Borough form is often referred to as a 'weak mayor-strong council' form." Note that as of date accessed, Cheatham and Glass are listed with term-end dates that have not been updated to reflect their re-election, while Hale's term-end year is incorrect.</ref><ref>[http://www.victorygardensnj.gov/finance/documents/introbudget-2021.pdf 2021 Municipal Data Sheet], Borough of Victory Gardens. Accessed April 12, 2022.</ref><ref name=MorrisManual>[https://www.morriscountyclerk.org/files/sharedassets/clerk/v/3/manual/mc-manual-2024-web-040924.pdf#page=60 ''Morris County Manual 2024''], [[Morris County, New Jersey]] Clerk. Accessed May 1, 2024.</ref><ref name=MorrisOfficials>[https://www.morriscountyclerk.org/files/sharedassets/clerk/v/9/elections/2024-municipal-elected-officials-032224.pdf ''Morris County Municipal Elected Officials For The Year 2024''], [[Morris County, New Jersey]] Clerk, updated March 20, 2024. Accessed May 1, 2024.</ref><ref name=Morris2022>[https://www.morriscountyclerk.org/files/sharedassets/clerk/elections/past-results/2022-general-municipality-report-official.pdf General Election November 8, 2022, Official Results], [[Morris County, New Jersey]], updated November 28, 2022. Accessed January 1, 2023.</ref><ref name=Morris2021>[https://www.morriscountyclerk.org/files/sharedassets/clerk/elections/past-results/2021-general-winners-121421.pdf General Election Winners For November 2, 2021], [[Morris County, New Jersey]] Clerk. Accessed January 1, 2022.</ref><ref name=Morris2020>[https://www.morriscountyclerk.org/files/sharedassets/clerk/elections/past-results/2020-general-winners.pdf General Election Winners List For November 3, 2020], [[Morris County, New Jersey]] Clerk. Accessed January 1, 2021.</ref>

Joan Cegelka won election in November 2013 to serve the balance of the term expiring in 2014 that had been held by David Holeman before he took office as mayor, with Vera Cheatham winning re-election to a full three-year term and [[Independent politician|Independent]] Hector Lorenzo Jr. knocking off incumbent Sonia Hall for terms starting January 1, 2014.<ref>Staff. [http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2013/11/morris_county_election_results_2013_local_county_school_races.html "Morris County election results 2013: Local, county, school races"], ''[[The Star-Ledger]]'', November 5, 2013. Accessed November 10, 2013.</ref>

In December 2010, Councilmember Ondria Garcia-Montes was placed on probation for 12 months after an incident in which she falsely told police that a criminal suspect who was the subject of a search warrant was not in her apartment.<ref>Horowitz, Ben. [http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/victory_gardens_councilwoman_p.html "N.J. councilwoman is placed on probation, pre-trial program for allegedly hiding suspect"], ''[[The Star-Ledger]]'', December 15, 2010. Accessed August 29, 2011.</ref>

[[Dover, New Jersey|Dover]] serves as the lead agency operating a joint municipal court that include Victory Gardens and the neighboring municipalities of [[Mine Hill Township, New Jersey|Mine Hill Township]], [[Mount Arlington, New Jersey|Mount Arlington]] and [[Wharton, New Jersey|Wharton]].<ref>[http://www.dover.nj.us/uppages/2015%20Reorg.%20Minutes-APPROVED.pdf Mayor and Board of Aldermen, Town of Dover Minutes of the Reorganization Meeting for January 1, 2015], Town of Dover. Accessed July 29, 2015.</ref> Established in 2009, the joint municipal court was forecast to offer annual savings in excess of $250,000 over the 10-year life of the agreement.<ref>Forrest, Cindy. [http://www.northjersey.com/news/council-judges-proposal-for-joint-municipal-court-1.367035?page=all "Victory Gardens Council judges proposal for joint municipal court"], ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'', May 18, 2012. Accessed July 29, 2015. "With Dover as the lead agency, four other area towns - Rockaway Borough, Wharton, Mine Hill, and Mt. Arlington - entered into a landmark municipal court shared-services agreement in 2009 anticipating an estimated $2.65 million savings over the 10-year life of the contract."</ref>

In 2018, the borough had an average property tax bill of $4,417, the lowest in the county, compared to an average bill of $10,480 in Morris County and $8,767 statewide.<ref>[https://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/dlgs/resources/property_docs/18_data/18taxes.xls 2018 Property Tax Information], [[New Jersey Department of Community Affairs]], updated January 16, 2019. Accessed November 7, 2019.</ref><ref>Marcus, Samantha. [https://www.nj.com/politics/2019/04/these-are-the-towns-with-the-lowest-property-taxes-in-each-of-njs-21-counties.html "These are the towns with the lowest property taxes in each of N.J.’s 21 counties"], NJ Advance Media for [[NJ.com]], April 30, 2019. Accessed November 7, 2019. "New Jersey’s average property tax bill may have hit $8,767 last year — a new record — but taxpayers in some parts of the state pay just a fraction of that.... The average property tax bill in Victory Gardens Borough was $4,417 in 2018, the lowest in Morris County."</ref>