Why Won't Middletown Tell Us? Why The Mystery Over The Cost Of The New Municipal Complex?

Nearly 5 weeks ago, I posted here that the cost of Middletown's new municipal complex under development had ballooned from the original estimate of $20 million dollars to $54 million.  The new municipal complex was supposed to be discussed at the September 17th meeting of the Township Committee but was pulled from the agenda due to budget concerns from what I was told.  At the time however, township officials scoffed at the figure but wouldn't answer as to whether or not what I wrote was true. Since that time, the Asbury Park Press has written two articles on the subject, the most recent of which appears in print this morning, "Middletown complex cost is a mystery", and it appears that township officials still aren't willing to discuss the cost of the new complex. Why the mystery?

The Asbury Park Press submitted several OPRA requests to the township looking for information on the project only to have those requests denied.  In the Township's response for information, the Asbury Park Press was told that the plans for the complex will be discussed at the Nov. 19th Township Committee meeting (which happens to be conveniently after this Tuesday's election).

Here's my take on the situation, the story in the Asbury Park Press about the how much the new municipal complex will cost is noteworthy on a number of fronts:

First, by denying of the OPRA request, Middletown won’t release to the Asbury Park Press documents that show how taxpayer money will be spent but under an anonymous OPRA request, the township released privacy protected emails to a requester, who appears to have been an appointed committeeman seeking 1st time election to the Township Committee, who and used those emails to send an inflammatory and deceptive, factually inaccurate email using the list which was obtained from the township, Tony Perry.

Second, the Mayor won’t release any information about the  project until after the election. Withholding of information like this is typical for this Township Committee.

And finally, because information about the revised costs of the new municipal complex won’t be released until after the November 6th election, I am convinced that the new price tag of $54 million, which is more than $30 million over what was originally told to us, is correct.

 So much for “taxpayers first.”.  How can anyone trust anything this group of township officials say or do?  I sure can't and neither can a lot of others.