Ready to move out of Vernon

We received an unwanted surprise in the mail from the Vernon Township Tax Collector last week indicating our quarterly tax bill had substantially increased for the 3rd Quarter of 2009. After speaking to the tax collector we were informed that due to the Sussex County Board of Taxation’s request to reassess homes in Vernon, that the Township’s tax rates had increased again and this time substantially. In a letter dated January 2009 from the appraiser it specifically stated the following; “Since new appraisals have been made to reflect current market values, the tax rate required to support next year’s county, school and municipal budgets will be substantially reduced. Therefore an increase in your assessment does not necessarily means an increase in your tax bill.” Upon informing the tax collector of this she bluntly responded, “They should have never said that!” It obviously didn’t get us too far and the outcome was that we were hit with a 16 percent tax increase! The point is what do we actually receiving in return? Vernon Township is a joke and is without question a backward and very poorly run community. Other towns in the area have grown, whereas Vernon is essentially the same as it was 25 years ago when we moved in. The irony is that we chose Vernon because of its much lower tax rates at the time. However, during this period our taxes have increased over 500 percent and for little or nothing in return. Vernon has provided us with no sewers in our area, no garbage pickup, no town center since announcing one over five years ago, a township, which for some odd reason believes that this is a resort area and refuses to allow strip malls and major business in to make it more appealing, township meetings which are continuously the butt of jokes, public officials who mysteriously resign and those who have been indicted or are in prison. And to make matters even worse, no children of ours have ever been in the township school system. When is Vernon Township ever going to change? Unfortunately we have answered our own question...Never. We are growing very tired of this place and look forward to the day that we bid it farewell. Stephen and Maryann Vecchiotti Vernon