NJ Monthly Best Places To Live 2015: Where Does Middletown Rank?

If you weren't aware, NJ Monthly Magazine came out with it's bi-annual list of the Best Places to Live in NJ  last week and based on the methodology used, Florham Park tops the list as the best town in the state in which to live. Florah Park was followed in order by Harding Township, Lavallette, Pequannock Township, Avon-By-The -Sea, Wyckoff, Roseland, Madison, Mendham Township and Saddle River to make up the remaining top 10.

The methodology used by NJ Monthly to rank municipalities throughout the state from 1 - 510 was "based on the following indicators: average residential tax bill (2014); change in average property tax bill (2012-2014); effective property tax rate for 2014; median home-sales price (2014); change in median home-sales price (2012-2014); total crime rate (2013) combined with a score for violent-crime rate (2013); student proficiency on state-mandated standardized tests for students in grades 4, 8 and 11 (2014); and a lifestyle factor that considers the number of acute-care hospitals and live performing-arts theaters within 10 miles of the municipality’s main zip code, number of full-service restaurants within two miles of the municipality’s main zip code, and average commute time for those working away from home. The final rankings were based on each municipality’s combined rankings for 13 indicators across the five categories. Extra weighting was given to the following indicators: average tax bill; change in average tax bill; effective tax rate; and results on standardized tests for students in grades 4 and 8."

Where does Middletown rank? Middletown ranks 130th on the list for this year's survey, which places Middletown in the top 25% of the best towns in the state. Not bad but not very impressive either for a town that in years past, has been named a top 100 Places to Live in the USA by Money Magazine. Middletown has improved it's position somewhat from NJ Monthly's last survey however; In 2013, NJ Monthly rank Middletown as the 158th best place in which to live.

What do you think of this year's NJ Monthly rankings of the Best Places to Live in NJ? Let me know.

(NJ Monthly Top Towns 1-50)

(NJ Monthly Top Towns 51-100)

(NJ Monthly Top Towns 101-150)

For the rest of NJ Monthly rankings of the Best Places to Live 2015 you can download the list HERE

Money Magazine Top 100 Places To Live Include 5 NJ Towns

Money Magazine's list of the top 100 places to live in the U.S. was announced yesterday and five NJ towns made the Top 100, Montville (17th), South Brunswick (No. 22), Ridgewood (No. 26), Madison (No. 33) and Hillsborough (No. 53), were all named in the top 100.

The overall top town to live in this year according to the editors of Money Magazine, Louisville, CO, population 18,400.

(2)Milton, MA, (3) Solon, OH,(4)Leesburg, VA, (5) Papillion, NE, (6) Hanover, NH (7) Liberty, MO 29,100 (8) Middleton, WI (9) Mukilteo, WA (10) Chanhassen, MN, round out the top 10.

Alas, Middletown will have to wait until next year to see if it qualifies for a return trip to the list next year. The town wasn't mentioned anywhere in this years survey nor is there an App in which you can compare Middletown to other communities that made the Top 100 list unlike Middletown, CT, Middletown, DE or Middletown, PA.

Gerry "The Tax Man" Scharfenberger; Middletown's Tax Rate Up 41.9% Since Scharfenberger Elected In 2005

It is quite obvious that Gerry Scharfenberger has earned the title of "TAX MAN", the numbers don't lie.

Since Gerry Scharfenberger was first elected to the Middletown Township Committee in November of 2004, the municipal tax rate has skyrocketed upwards.

If the currently proposed Middletown Township budget for 2010 (this year), which contains a 13% tax increase, passes the muster of the Local Finance Board and is adopted as is, Middletown's municipal tax rate will have risen a stunning 41.9% since 2005, the year that our wonderful, appointed mayor, Gerry Scharfenberger was first sworn into office.

The chart below tells the tale:

(Click on chart to enlarge)

It seems that things were going "pretty good" before Scharfenberger came onto the Committee.

The numbers represented on the chart are real numbers that came from township documents, they are verifiable and can be found with little effort if Googled.

Looking at the chart it is very plain to see that every year the amount of revenue generated by property taxes continues to rise and suggests that the Township Committee clearly has no plan to generate revenue by any other means other than through local property taxes.

It is too bad that our appointed Zoning and Planning Boards continue to allow the rezoning of commercial properties to residential.

Relying on the homeowners to balance the Township budget is only going to drive those living on the edge of affordability out of town. It seems that the average Middletown homeowner will need to make more than the $108K per year, as stated in Money Magazine, to continue to afford to live in this "Top 100 Places To Live" town.

The sooner residents realize that these types of out of control tax rate increases are unaffordable and unsustainable, and are the result of lack of leadership by RINO Gerry Scharfenberger and his current GOP majority which includes Pam Brightbill, Tony Fiore and Steve Massell, the sooner they will see the Township budget begin to stabilize, spending reduced and tax rates decline.

Middletown ranked in the “Top 100 places to live in United States, but what does it mean?

Money Magazine recently came out with its annual list of the “Top 100 places to live in United States” for 2010; kudos goes to Middletown for once again making the list at #89 and being the fourth town from New Jersey to make the list this year. With this honor, Middletown has now found itself on this prestigious list for the third time in the last five years; previously Middletown made the list in 2006(#50) and 2008(#86).

In determining Middletown’s spot on the list, MONEY Magazine sighted a strong sense of community, its low crime rate, great school system and the abundance of cultural and leisure activities available to residents, which makes Middletown a really wonderful place to raise a family and for that reason, I consider myself truly blessed to call Middletown home.

In a press release announcing Middletown’s third appearance on MONEY’s Top 100 List, Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger is quoted as saying “The designation speaks volumes about our success in maintaining the highest quality of life possible”.

But does it?

What does this ranking really mean? Does it really merit the praise when NJ Monthly Magazine ranked Middletown as only the 134th (down 20 places from its 2008 survey) best place to live in New Jersey and only the 10th best place to live in Monmouth County back in February?

Both magazines used crime rate, school performance and proximity to services as leading indicators for their rankings. MONEY seems to have placed more emphasis on the superficial like “air quality” and leisurely activities, whereas NJ Monthly used more tangible criteria such as population growth, home values, property taxes, land development and unemployment rates to determine its ranking, which I believe leads to a more honest assessment of Middletown. It’s no wonder then, that there was no press release in February praising NJ Monthly for its brutally honest appraisal of Middletown’s standing.

Like good politicians do, Scharfenberger wasted little time attempting to take credit for the news from MONEY Magazine even though he had little to with its findings, unless of course if you consider Middletown’s decline in the survey.

Since Scharfenberger has been in office, Middletown’s ranking in MONEY Magazine “Top 100 Best Places To Live” went from #50 to #86 to #89 -- a 39 point decline. During his first term we saw a 36-point decline.

It seems that Mayor Scharfenberger and the Republican majority are eroding the quality of life in Middletown. If he and his friends were doing a good job we should have been ranked #31 by now. The Township is trending out of the Top 100.

Seeing that the quality of the school system was a leading indicator in the survey and that the mayor’s much publicized battle with the teacher’s union and the Middletown Board of Education over the school budget this past May, may have had an effect on the Township’s place on the list, let me put it another way. Scharfenberger’s municipal 'Best Places' report card shows a grade point average declining over three marking periods with 11 other cities having a lower GPA and 88 with a higher GPA. He has essentially moved Middletown to the bottom half of the last quarter, of the best places to live.

Since Gerry Scharfenberger and his Republican majority have been in office, our municipal taxes are up over 25% and moving upwards, to over 30% if the currently proposed budget is adopted on July 19th.

Here’s a question that should be asked of the people at MONEY Magazine: What does it cost in individual tax dollars to be ranked 89; do the better ranked cities get more bang for the taxpayer buck than lesser ranked cities? It seems that the Middletown residents as a whole were paying less in taxes when we were ranked at 50 than we do now; what happened?

Whatever happened to the dedicated and disciplined pursuit of excellence? I guess it wasn’t part of the survey.