Chintall, Cianfarini Focused on Debt, Waste and Open Government

Republican committee candidates Ray Chintall and Sam Cianfarini don’t see the election as just about West Deptford’s debt, or RiverWinds, or a host of other issues.

They see it as fundamentals: the right way and wrong way to govern at the local level and manage the township’s resources.

“All we’re worried about is essential services,” Chintall said.

Step one for them is passing an ordinance to limit the local government to spending money on just the essential services–things like the police and fire departments, public works, trash pickup and the like–and requiring a public referendum on any new major spending projects.

“That, in one fell swoop, is an automatic moratorium on debt,” Cianfarini said.

They have more on their docket–20 campaign points, which they’re going to whittle down by conducting a poll of local Republicans to gauge what issues are most important to the voters.

Some are “structural changes”–things like capping committee members’ pay at $5,000, wiping out health benefits for committee members and introducing a three-term limit on the township committee.

But with a $3.4 million jump in the debt service payments looming next year–a 10 percent increase, compared to this year’s proposed budget of $30.3 million–much of their focus is on the financial side of the equation.

They’re proposing a top-to-bottom audit of the township, to find out where spending can be reined in, and where government isn’t working to its full potential.

“We will eliminate waste. Period,” Cianfarini said.

The pair also said long-term financial planning is an absolute must, and criticized the current committee and Township Administrator Eric Campo for saying that the township’s debt amortization schedule is their plan, something the two men likened to calling your home mortgage your personal financial plan.

“That’s no plan,” Chintall said.

Cianfarini said he and Chintall will attack the debt with every resource available.

And in looking to solutions for the township’s fiscal woes, both were quick to point to the potential of township resources like the RiverWinds community center.

“We believe, with proper management, those resources can…help our tax situation and our debt situation, versus continuing to dig us into a hole,” Cianfarini said.

The two want to establish a community board of directors for RiverWinds, and seed it with business owners, in order to get the community center on the road to becoming a self-sustaining operation.

Cianfarini pointed to Ron Jaworski’s success turning around the golf course, which was in serious disrepair a few years ago, and said there’s no reason the community center can’t be turned into a financial engine for the township.

Chintall was adamant the community center should be run as any other business, and said thinking otherwise is a failure in judgment.

“It’s a huge asset, and we want to use it to its full potential,” Chintall said. “You can’t have that myopic view.”

One thing the two men are leery of is Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) programs that don’t adequately protect the community, something Cianfarini said has been a major problem.

He pointed to the Rivercove Apartments, where a $7 million PILOT program was put in jeopardy by a bankruptcy filing–something that amounts to West Deptford residents “being left holding the bag.”

“[The committee] failed to protect our community,” Cianfarini said.

Whatever may come of their planned audit and beyond, both men said it’s vital to keep local government transparent and accessible to residents.

Cianfarini said they’d aim to put everything possible online via the township website, similar to what he and Chintall did in launching the website wdtruth.org, which they’ve turned over to fellow Republicans during their campaign.

“We’re going to do it in a much bigger way–and why not?” he said.

And Chintall and Cianfarini said they’re not focusing just on finding solutions; they also talked about the importance of leadership, and used the recent flood that damaged homes in Willow Woods as evidence of a need for more leadership.

Cianfarini said he wanted to see more out of the township committee in the wake of that disaster, and he and Chintall pitched the idea of putting together an emergency relief fund together to help, at least at a basic level.

He and Chintall also plan to use their salaries as township committee members to establish a scholarship fund for West Deptford residents.

“That’s what public service is,” Cianfarini said.