On November 12, South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum was celebrating her birthday by getting down to business.
During her mayoral report, Collum outlined some key policy areas that South Orange residents should be watching — and potentially organizing around — in a second Trump administration.
“I wanted to make sure that I also covered a little bit about what transpired in the election,” began Collum. “I haven’t said too much since last Tuesday, but I’ve been thinking about this a lot from the community perspective and then also things that we have to be thinking about strategically as a Village and our municipal operations funding infrastructure.”
SALT – or State and Local Tax — Cap
Collum began with possible “good news,” noting that, although President-elect Donald Trump imposed a cap on property tax deductions during his first administration, he “did promise during the campaign that he would support the expiration of the $10,000 cap on state and local taxes that will have a very large impact on the majority of our property owners in South Orange.”
“For South Orange residents, the average property taxes, I believe, are now over $19,000. So hopefully this will provide some relief,” added Collum.
Related: South Orange Passes Resolution Asking Congress to Let SALT Tax Cap Expire
“That’s a positive… if it does happen,” said Collum. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed because it’s like putting a kleptomaniac in charge of theft control. He was the one who imposed this in 2017. That money has been reallocated to different programs and to expect it to come back to a blue state like New Jersey, I’m just not sure. But if he keeps that promise, that is one thing that could potentially be on the upside for our taxpayers.”
The Hudson River Gateway Tunnel Project
“The next thing that I’m currently concerned about is the $16 billion Gateway Tunnel project,” said Collum. “That is a very large infrastructure project that is transformative to our region and to our residents. For those not familiar, the Gateway Project would build new Hudson River rail tunnels and rehabilitate existing tunnels. One factor of this project is that funding agreements and contracts with the Federal Transit Administration are already in place with New Jersey, New York, Amtrak, and the Gateway Development Commission.”
“[Trump] slow walked this project and getting on board with this project in his first term, and it came to fruition under President Biden,” said Collum.
Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
Collum also flagged the flow of “infrastructure money in general and how it gets passed through to the state and also how South Orange residents have benefited from it over the past four years. An example would be HUD — Housing and Urban Development. The incoming president had said previously that communities like ours are being invaded by low income housing and that Democrats will abolish suburbs.”
Related: Collum: South Orange to Build Affordable Housing Despite Trump Move
“I take this seriously because obviously we have a path of development, which includes affordable housing, that is a doctrine within New Jersey and our New Jersey constitution,” said Collum. “But what we do rely on is federal funding through HUD, which supports low-income housing tax credits and money that’s available for projects and developments with private developers and also with nonprofits and community-based organizations to be able to finance some of the construction.”
The mayor noted that the Village was in the process of negotiating with NJ Transit for development of its lot near the South Orange Train Station for a mixed use project and would be reliant on “DOT [U.S. Department of Transportation] funding around transit-oriented development that obviously our developers are looking to take advantage of. But again, when your goals don’t align with smart growth and building housing around transportation and building equity into that type of housing around transportation, you don’t know where that’s going to go as well.”
Climate Change
With Trump having withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement in his first administration, Collum expressed concern that his second administration would similarly be “less concerned about the impacts of climate change,” thereby impacting the flow of funding through the Environmental Protection Agency to the NJ Department of Environmental Protection for distribution to municipalities.
“A lot of the grants that we applied for, for storm water studies or management grants, infrastructure improvements, that’s where the Congressional delegation will hopefully get us some sort of money from the federal government. And I know that DEP relies very heavily on a lot of their programs, not just in South Orange, but all throughout the state of New Jersey,” said Collum.
Mass Deportations
“A more sensitive issue is that we do know that there will be mass deportations that have been promised,” Collum warned. “If you recall back in 2017, this was an issue that we discussed with our community at length designating South Orange as a sanctuary city.”
Related: South Orange Trustees Vote to Designate Town as Sanctuary City
Collum said she would re-share the 2017 resolution and that South Orange “would not be cooperating — unless required by law — voluntarily with any federal government or agency in terms of immigration policy. One specific aspect of this … is that you could deputize local law enforcement to be an extension of ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. We explicitly prohibited any type of agreements like that. … That’s something we need to be thinking about as well prior to January — what are going to be those expectations and whether we need to renew any of these resolutions or policy items.”
Challenges Ahead
“I’m not going to belabor the point,” Collum said. “The turnout was very clear that our community supported Kamala Harris.”
“I know people are still coming to terms with what occurred on election day,” said Collum. “All I want to say is that we’re going to work through those items with you. As I was telling my neighbor, who had great anxiety talking about this issue with me, is just to remember when you walk out your door, you are in South Orange. You’re in a community that loves you, that values, that appreciates you, and that our culture here is something very, very special.
“And on a larger level, we do live in New Jersey where we do have a lot of really, really good public servants who have paved a path for a lot of the values that we have in South Orange. Reproductive rights being just one of those items. We remain committed to working with our community as we navigate some of the challenges that will be ahead in the upcoming years. And most importantly, to recommit ourselves to take care of each other as, as we work through these challenges.”
