Editing Chester Township, New Jersey (section)

==== Merger discussion with Chester Borough ====
In 2007, New Jersey Governor [[Jon Corzine]] created incentives for municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants to combine with other communities. The goal was to reduce the overall cost of government and thereby offer some tax relief. "New Jersey has 21 counties, 566 municipalities and 616 school districts, and property taxes average $6,800 per homeowner, or twice the national average."<ref name="VanDyke">Van Dyke, Meghan. "The Chesters look at forming one community", ''[[Daily Record (New Jersey)|Daily Record]]'', June 4, 2008.</ref><ref>Porter, David via [[Associated Press]]. [http://www.newsobserver.com/2009/05/17/43270/strapped-towns-eye-mergers-but.html "Strapped towns eye mergers, but few reach the altar"], ''[[The News & Observer]]'', May 17, 2009. Accessed January 15, 2015.</ref>

Chester Borough split from Chester Township in 1930 over the creation of sewer and water infrastructure in the more densely settled center of the municipality. The residents of the rural portions of the Township did not wish to financially support the construction and maintenance of a public sewer or water utility. Since that time rural Chester Township has relied upon individual private wells for water and septic systems for wastewater treatment while the Borough is primarily, although not entirely, served by public sewer and water. Concerns over the extension of utilities into the more rural Township with the resultant potential for large scale growth served as an impediment to consolidation. The prohibition of utility extensions supported by the NJ State Plan and codified in the Highlands Water Protection Act, along with the development restrictions contained in the Highlands Act have lessened those concerns. Additionally, an aggressive land conservation program in the Township has resulted in over 40% of the {{convert|29|sqmi|km2|adj=on}} Township being placed into permanent preservation, further lessening worries about potential overdevelopment. The two municipalities currently share a common K–8 school district, volunteer fire department, library, first aid squad and other municipal services.

Governor Corzine's plan to reduce or eliminate state aid had residents considering recombining towns. The two mayors publicly endorsed a cost/benefit analysis of a merger.<ref name="VanDyke"/> However, a merger vote planned for November 2, 2010, was delayed until 2011 due to Governor Christie's elimination of equalization funds that would ensure some taxpayers do not pay more due to the merger, as an analysis by the [[New Jersey Department of Community Affairs]] estimated that township residents would see an annual increase of $128 on their property taxes while those in the borough would see an average decline of $570 in their taxes.<ref>Goldberg, Dan. [http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2010/10/chesters_merger_panel_puts_off.html "Chester merger panel puts off meeting until next year"], ''[[The Star-Ledger]]'', October 5, 2010. Accessed July 27, 2015. "Progress toward merging the two Chesters has slowed to a crawl, and the consolidation commission charged with studying the feasibility of it has decided not to meet again until 2011.... A DCA report delivered in May showed that the merger, based on 2009 data, would reduce borough taxes by approximately $570 on a home assessed at the borough average of $528,000. It would increase township taxes $128 on a home assessed at $826,000, the township average."</ref>