Sunday, October 3, 2004

Patricia Quattrocchi
H 908-789-9078
W 732-382-5505

County takes More & More & More & More

Having seven children, I have over the years encountered numerous methods of teaching children the Three R's. One in particular which stands out in my mind was used many years ago by a teacher one of my older sons had in Kindergarten in the late eighties. The children were taught a different letter of the alphabet each week and in order to remember what sound the letter made they were taught a little song that featured a series of words that started with that letter. A personal favorite of mine was the song for the letter "M" called "Mr. Munchie Mouth", his little ditty included the words, "meatballs, macaroni, mashed potatoes, I enjoy muffins and molasses….More and More and More and More!!

Frequently our current Freeholder Board brings this little tune back to mind, actually I am referring to the More and More and More and More part, and perhaps I should call the song "Mr. Money Mouth." The county tax levy on real estate has increased over 40% in less than five years or at an average of 10% per year. Salaries on the other hand have only risen at a rate of 4 to 5% annually, which by the way is the norm nationally and truth be told there are many residents, who I am sure, have not received raises or bonuses at all in the last couple of years. The disparity here is quite obvious and more than a little disturbing it is no wonder people are moving out of Union County.

Think about your personal tax bill or better yet look at the back where you will find the distribution of the monies you pay to your municipality. You will see a percentage goes to your town, a percentage goes to your school district and the rest of the monies go to the county. Actually you will see two parts going to the county one for the tax levy and the other for the Open Space Tax, approved by the voters a few years back. Now sit back for a moment and think about what your town has received in exchange for all of this money, difficult isn't it? When this inquiry was put to the mayor in my town, by one of my running mates, he hesitated for a moment or two and responded that the county had repaired our snow blower. That was his answer; the county repaired our snow blower!

The municipality of Summit decided to look into just this issue and this spring released a report that they compiled by evaluating numerous factors. They looked at where they ranked with regard to the percentage of taxes they paid to the county in relation to the other 20 municipalities and just what the cost was of the all of the services that they received in return, this included students attending UC Tech and Union College, snow plowing and repair of county roads etc. The results were staggering, while paying the highest dollar amount of all the municipalities, they were receiving back almost no services in return. Another disturbing aspect of the study showed that they were sending more to the county than they were keeping to operate their own town. There is definitely something wrong with this picture and we suggest that other municipalities in UC take a good look at what they are getting in return for their hard earned money.

The team of Joe Renna, Patricia Quattrocchi, Frank Arena and Bruce Paterson for Union County Freeholder want to do something about "Mr. Money Mouth" and his "More and More and More, and More" way of doing business, we want to reverse this trend with lower property taxes. For starters this can be achieved by eliminating waste and non-essential services as well as eliminating no bid contracts. To learn more about the issues as well as to join the growing number of volunteers please visit our website at UnionCountyGOP.org or call us at 908-789-0200.