Madison's Conley, Baillie, and Wolkowitz Point to Improvements in Infrastructure Investment

By David Luber

In a joint prepared statement, Madison Mayor Conley, Borough Council President Astri Baillie and Councilman Ben Wolkowitz, who are all candidates for re-election in 2015, express satisfaction with the substantial improvements in Madison’s infrastructure that have been achieved during their current terms in office.

The candidates stated, “In 2015 the borough will be spending over $3 million on improvements in infrastructure with more than half that amount allocated to road repair. The following Madison streets have already been repaved this year: Danforth Road, Morris Place, Longview, Sherwood, Candlewood, and Noe Avenues, Fox Chase Road and the west end of Woodland Road. The Waverly Green parking lot will also be resurfaced and the reconstruction of Ridgedale Avenue will be completed later this summer.

Madison will also be replacing the antiquated HVAC system at the Library in the fall, and major improvements will be made to our sanitary and storm sewer systems. We have also made great strides in updating and replacing equipment used by our police, fire, electric and DPW departments and are now working on a long range replacement and maintenance plan.”

“This is a major turnaround from when I was first elected mayor in 2011,” Conley observed. “Back then we were badly underinvesting in infrastructure. Our roads and sewers were in a serious state of disrepair, and the Borough Council had appropriated only $500,000 for the Capital Improvement Fund in 2010 and nothing in the following year. In 2012, Council did appropriate $750,000 for capital and that was increased to $1 million when Astri and Ben joined the Council in 2013. With improvements in the borough’s and the electric utility’s finances and the sale of some borough property, the investment increased to $3.5 million in 2014, and this year Council set aside $3.05 million for capital improvements.

The consequence has been that we are making good progress in rebuilding Madison. Driving in town is certainly more pleasurable these days, we are having far fewer sewer backups and our first responders and DPW workers have better and safer equipment.”

“We are on the right path now.” Conley, Wolkowitz, and Baillie concluded. “But infrastructure will always continue to age and deteriorate, which means that we need to identify sustainable sources of funding for capital in the future. The Strategic Planning Committee on the Municipal Budget has recommended that no less than 10% of the municipal budget be allocated to the capital improvement fund, which would equal approximately $2.9 million – consistent with the allocations in 2014 and 2015. The Strategic Planning Committee on Capital will be analyzing requirements from an engineering perspective later this year. We look forward to hearing what they recommend and how the recommendations compare to those of the Municipal Budget Committee.”