"...If elected, Baum, 47, said she would like to focus on lowering property taxes and improving what she calls poor planning and government structure. She also promised to increase transparency, communication and opportunity for public participation.
"I’ve spent hundreds of hours reviewing township documents and issues in recent years,” Baum said. “Like many others, I’ve been frustrated by the non-disclosure of information that is in the public interest and by limited opportunity to participate in local government....
She said the committee should dissolve the Middletown Township Sewerage Authority and consolidate its services with the township. This would save the township $1.1 million per year, Baum said. “Because the township is largely built out, a separate authority is no longer needed,” she said.
Other solutions for lowering property taxes include pre-approving engineering firms to competitively bid on contracts instead of assigning the work to one firm each year, and limiting health insurance eligibility to full-time, salaried employees, excluding part-timers, Baum said. She said these changes could save the township hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Baum said she would also like to see more transparency in Middletown government such as broadcasting Township Committee meetings on cable television and providing more detailed meeting materials online. Baum is a founding member of Middletown Open Government, a group that has researched funding for televised meetings."
Massell on the other hand, much like his appearances sitting on the dais, put very little thought into his answers relying on old, stocked and clique responses from the past such as maintaining the quality of life in town and keeping taxes low. Much of what Massell said just so happened to be proposed in the past by Democrats Patrick Short and Sean Byrnes, during their time on the Township Committee a few years ago.
It's funny how their ideas were blown off then but has now been taken and corrupted by the very same people that ridiculed them in the past, as their own. It just goes to show you that the current Republicans that have been running Middletown into the ground for the past 30 years, are devoid of any real ideas of their own.
17 comments:
If Massell wants to 'maintain the quality of life in Middletown', then the Township is in BIGGER TROUBLE than it already is. In 2006 Middletown Township was ranked number 50 out of 100 in a quality of life survey published in Money Magazine, in 2012 in the same survey Middletown was no longer ranked in the Top 100 Places To Live. Steve Massell has been a Township Committee member during the last three years of the Townships rapid decline. He should be focused on IMPROVING the quality of life, and so should Ms. Baum. I read the article in its original form in the Asbury Park Press and what struck me about Massell's reported comments was that he "voted for" a green recycling iniative proposed and championed by former Committeeperson Sean Byrnes. It is his job to vote for ordinances and resolutions that promote the welfare of Middletown. He was just doing his job as instructed by the more senior members of the Township Committee. What he failed to mention is that he voted in the affirmative, without comment or explanation, for every resoultion and ordinance, as instructed, that came before him --even the ones that sanctioned the taking of over $700,000 dollars from Middletown Public Library funds. Again, he was just doing his job as instructed by senior members of the Committee and Party leadership. And, in so doing adding to the DECLINE of quality of life in Middletown.
This post must've slipped through the cracks, so here it is again:
I'm all for Ms. Baum trying to save the taxpayers some money but I'm afraid something in this article may confuse people: part-time employees of the Township do NOT receive health insurance benefits. A few board members of TOMSA are entitled to that benefit but not all have elected to receive it. I suppose you could call those people "part-time employees" but I think that's stretching it. Members of the Township Committee USED to get health insurance but that's not true today. Health insurance is expensive and many FULL-time workers in this country are not fortunate enough to receive it as a benefit from their employers. I don't want the taxpayers of Middletown to read an article like this and think their money is going toward insurance for all the part-time employees in the Township because it is NOT. Ms. Baum has also mentioned this on other sites and it is not true. More power to her but I think this misinformation should be cleared up.
Gee, do you think Ms. Baum lied about who gets health insurance in town?
Or was she simply misinformed?
Eitehr way, that doesn't do much for her credibility, does it?
And her "big idea" about TOMSA being run by the town. The employees who work for TOMSA would have to come to work for the town, so the only money that would be saved would possibly be the members of the authority board whp only get a small stipend every year.
I think we need to see how she comes up with $1.1 million.
Oh, and she wants the sewer rates to be set by the TC? Did she really mean to say that or is she just saying things without thinking about them again?
Nice woman, bad candidate.
Anon 3:08 pm,
Your post is interesting; unfortunately your comments lack OFFICIAL credibility. To make this official maybe an ordinance or resolution should be passed excluding part-timers, past, present and future, from being eligible to receive health care benefits paid for with local taxpayer (property taxes) dollars.
No, the employees (head count) who work for TOMSA would not have to work for the Township. The Township could execute a organizational change and subsequent downsizing; and, like 'Mittens' Romney 'outsource' the TOMSA work to the Township.
Legion,
Established TOMSA is eligible for health care and pension and can retroactively claim it at any time they choose to.
No the sewer rates would be set by the Public Works Department, not by an elected body that has misnmanaged finances for over 30 years. Can you imagine Dr. 'Finance-By-Osmosis' Scharfenberger who also sold-off a $92,000 a year revenue stream even attempting to set and manage sewer rates? The Township would be in very deep poo and would have to postpone the shadow Lake Dredging in favor of an emergency appropriation authorizing dredging of Townhall
Ms. Baum has asked the Township Committee to provide an accounting of all Middletown Township employees (including family members) both full-time and part-time, as well as active and retired, who are receiving health care benfits. The Township has refused to comply with and honor her OPRA request based upon a very questionable legal interpretation involving privacy. The committee at the direction of Brian Nelson is stretching a legal opinion to avoid producing available public information. What are they trying to hide? Are there family members (children or spouses) who are covered and shouldn't be covered(like Pat Parkinson's wife who once worked for the Township), or consultants, or part-time employees like the Township crossing guards? Are there members part-time members of the Sewerage Authority like Tom Stokes, who has publically referenced prior serious medical issues, or elderly Jim Hinckley, who may have expensive medical issues that our taxes are paying for? It is public knowledge that health care costs in Middletown are out of control as evidenced by years of emergency appropriations to cover medical costs. The gross amount of health care costs is available; the taxpayers are entitled to know at least by job title and at best by name and job title, who is getting taxpayer funded health care in Middletown.
Legion,
The only credibility issue is the one created by the Township Committee refusing to provide the public with itemized health care costs for active and retired employees and any other individual who may be receiving taxpayer supported health care. Ms. Baum can't lie about who gets health insurance because the Township Committee refuses to provide and verify health care recipient information -- can't lie about information you don't have.
Regarding TOMSA, the Public Works Department, not the Township Committee, would acquire the operational functions of TOMSA. And, and a reorganization of the Authority into Public Works could lead to eliminating/combining some job functions. The Township could eliminate TOMSA's Executive Director (now Parkin$on) and its attorney (formerly Brian Nelson, saving big dollar$) and its engineer and its accountant and probably some others.
Its a smart waste cutting move that the Republican majority resists because it removes a patronage resource from the Party's control.
The original purpose of the Sewerage Authority as a separate management entity has been fulfilled. The Authority's board and support staff are no longer necessary they need to go.
Anon 10:40 PM,
Maybe so, but the point I'm trying to make is that the wording of the article may lead Average Joe Taxpayer to think that his tax dollars are being used to pay for health insurance for ALL part-time employees of the Township - right now, at this point in time. Not true. Ask any part-time Township employee (including crossing guards) if they're getting health insurance benefits and they'll tell you no, they are not. As for retired employees, their benefits would go by what the union contract stated at their time of hire.
There is nowhere near $1.1 million in savings there.
Someone would still have to run the "Sewerage Division" of DPW, and the other employees who work for TOMSA are still needed.
Perhaps the attorney could be cut, but how much is that costing anyway? $10K $15K?
Nothing close to $1.1 million, plus the town would then be responsible for maintenance of the system and likely would need to do more bonding - I don't think that much would be saved.
I don't know anything about an OPRA request, but I do understand that part time employees don't get health benefits.
And realy Anon at 9:49... Brining up individuals personal health issues? Maybe that's the reason that Ms. Baum hasn't gotten the individual claims information you are saying that she asked for.
If someone retires from the town after more than 25 years - don't they get benefits in retirement? Am I to understand that some people think that's wrong somehow?
TIME TO RID THIS TOWNSHIP OF THE PATRONAGE ENGAGED IN BY THE REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION REGARDLESS OF WHO THESE SPECIFIC INDIVIDUALS ARE !!
UNLESS YOU ARE A FULL TIME EMPLOYEE OF THIS TOWNSHIP YOU SHOULD NOT BE ENTITLED TO BENEFITS OF ANY KIND!!
IT IS THE YEAR 2012 and NO ONE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR IS AFFORDED THE BENEFITS THAT SOME PUBLIC EMPLOYEES GET AND THOSE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR CANNOT AFFORD TO SUPPORT THIS RIDICULOUS DEMAND !!
The teachers are being vilified because of this kind of misconception, when it's the politicians who are THE TRUE ABUSERS !!
MIDDLETOWN HAS IT"S SHARE OF ABUSERS.
WAS Stokes ever employed in this town or have only political activities given him benefits as well as others like him,Smith,Hinckley and the rest of that bunch of political parasites?
Not directly relevant to this blog post, but would like to comment on this.....
The front page of the new Middletown Matters has an article about the new ice rink at the swim club. I'm not 100% sure what a private enterprise is doing on the first page of the Township newsletter, but whatever - maybe it was a slow news day, and maybe other private enterprises in town get the same treatment when they expand/upgrate/improve.
What concerns me is that the Township Administrator and the Township Engineer are both shown in the accompanying photo. As these are both paid positions, I can only assume that these public employees were paid to attend this private photo op. This seems a complete waste of taxpayers' money.
I wonder if Ms. Baum would be willing to share a spreadsheet which outlines the $1.1 million in savings? It seems consolidation can only be a good idea, but $1.1 million does seem like a lot. I would love to be able to review such a document for myself.
And thank you to Ms. Baum for the hard work she is doing on behalf of the residents of the Township.
Legion,
Tom Stokes made his health a sympahty issue when he attacked a member of the Township Committee a few years ago. Hinckley is speculation and I think the taxpayers have a right to know if a member the Sewerage Authority is get health care paid for with our tax dollars.
The Republicans in this town scratch and sink to the bottom of the barrel always when it comes to the patronage issues.
The Middletown Republicans are a parasitic group....all of them !!
Post a Comment