Opening Salvo In Middletown Budget Battle Misses Mark

In an obvious attempt at one-upmanship Monday night February 2nd at the monthly workshop meeting, the Middletown Republicans fired the opening salvo in this years “Battle of the Budget”.

Towards the end of a long and tedious meeting, which ended at 11:30 pm, the newest member of the Township Committee, Republican Tony “the Fibber” Fiore, introduced his 8 point plan for controlling spending. Unfortunately for the residents of Middletown, the Fibber’s plan contains nothing new or bold. Democrats Patrick Short and Sean Byrnes have proposed seven out of the eight points outlined by Fiore before in one form or another.

Only the first of the Fibber’s proposals (listed below) is worth discussion, even though the impact to the budget of suspending the salaries of the Township Committee would be minimal and purely symbolic:

(1) Suspend the entire Township Committee’s salaries;
(2) Freeze all non-essential hiring not required by law;
(3) Freeze all union and non-union salaries;
(4) Evaluate all non-essential, non-revenue generating programs for elimination;
(5) Seek out additional shared service arrangements;
(6) Sell surplus township property and assets;
(7) Eliminate all non-essential Township subscriptions and dues payments; and
(8) Eliminate all conference and travel expenses unless required by law for continuing education requirements.”

For a team that promised “New Ideas”, to put “ Tax Payers First” and to “Cut Wasteful Spending and Lower Our Property Taxes”, Mayor Brightbill and Tony “the Fibber” Fiore have taken the ideas of their Democratic counterparts for themselves in order to make it seem as if the Republican majority on the Township Committee truly care and understand the current economic hard times the Township of Middletown faces.