While Save Jersey is primarily a site that deals with state government issues, we believe that it is important to cover certain events at the local level from around the state, particularly when we feel that the issues at hand is one of particular importance. This is not the first time we have covered a specific local issue, but its the first time we are going to acknowledge it as a future pursuit of this website. Posts in this vein will from here on out be dubbed “Save Jersey Local” and will likely be the precursor to a great many enhancements to our site in the future:
Save Jerseyans, I want you to suspend your attachment to reality for one moment, and imagine a municipality, not a city, not a county of state, that has a budget deficit of nearly $8 million. Crazy right? Now imagine Old Bridge, NJ in Middlesex County. Now realize that the fantasy town in your mind and Old Bridge are the same place. Yesterday evening I found myself in Old Bridge, NJ, just at the top of LD12, Bob Brown territory, for a press conference being called by the local candidates, both incumbents and challengers.
This press conference was called on an issue that we have previously covered here at Save Jersey. Old Bridge recently passed an ordinance along party lines that lowered the minimum amount of years that an Old Bridge employee must work to receive taxpayer funded health benefits for the rest of their lives. The previous year minimum was 25, it is now 15.
The Mayor of Old Bridge claims that this will be a savings to the town with the $8 million dollar structural deficit. What a joke. Yes, maybe clearing people off the payroll by making early retirement seem more attractive, but that would only help for so long before the long term costs catch up. However, this is par for the course with this long time Democrat regime.
Old Bridge has had a structural deficit for the last few years, and every year the Democrats find some back door method to plug the budget hole. Usually it is some sort of land sale to Middlesex County, or some sort of accounting trick where they raid the MUA surplus. But this year it was far worse. Not only did the Democrats raid the surplus of the local MUA, but they also sold land to the MUA for over $5 million. Why is that so bad? Because some MUA board members are also council members! They were negotiating the sale on both sides of the table! This sort of thing should be illegal in government, and life in general.
Finally, one of the council members, a man named Bob Volker, voted for the ordinance. He had a direct conflict of interest due to the fact that his son, a local police officer, stands to benefit from this new rule. A determination of the validity of Volker’s vote is now being tried in court with a writ expected to come down on Friday.
What also disgusts me about this whole thing is that after all of the hard work that was done this year, on both sides of the aisle, to pass comprehensive pension reform, a town would go and do something stupid like this that completely negates the purpose of the reforms. What do I mean? Those reforms saved money by asking state workers to pay a small percentage into their own health insurance, just like everyone else does. Now these Democrats are bypassing that reform, and costing tax payers more money, but allowing workers to retire early, and letting them take home health insurance of the rest of their lives, all courtesy of Old Bridge taxpayers.
I would say that I am afraid of this ordinance spreading and popping up in other Democrat towns, but honestly Save Jerseyans, I don’t think any other Democrats could be this stupid. This ordinance will likely be born in Old Bridge, and die here after the 2011 election when the GOP takes control of the town.
Watch the video below for highlights of the press conference.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L9gLqz3V_w
Excellent commentary on the state of affairs in the township of Old Bridge by these Republican Candidates. Unfortunately, the democrats continue their sorry attempt to spend and maneuver a way to close budget gaps at the tax payers expense. Good Luck to these Candidates, here's hoping their message not only resonates with the voters of Old Bridge but also alerts them to the reality the Democrats have failed (in the last 8 years) in their representation by placing a self serving agenda above the best interest of the resident of Old Bridge.
This is a sad day for journalism. If this site pretends to be anything more than a republican mouthpiece, it would have done more than attend a ridiculously partisan "press conference," complete with fake flash bulbs and questions from the local republican chair.
The gentleman doing most of the speaking is straight out fibbing. I watched the town council meetings where this ordinace was discussed and passed, and at no time did Mr. Cahill ever ask for an actuarial study, nor did he ever state, much less define, any alternative ideas. The business administrator made a presentation showing that this would indeed save money. By contrast, Mr. Cahill and his running mates REF– USE to provide a single example showing that this would cost the OB taxpayers.
Also, you might want to look a little deeper into the "deficit" they claim. As of last winter, they claimed it was $2.5M. By April it was $5 and now it's up to $8M. Really? And if any actual journalism had taken place, the writer would know that the "one-shot" deals the republicans are screaming about have been suggested and introduced by republican councilman. As for Mr. Cahill, last year he could only suggest $600K in cuts at the same time he cried of a $2.5M gap. C'mon. I appreciate the rhetoric, but let's not pretend this is journalism. Find out the real facts.
an 8 mill. deficit turns into a 7.1 mill. surplus for the 2012 OB budget!!! How do you explain that one? Are the Reps. asking their own Mr. Green to stop down from the MUA board or the OB town council? He sits on both!! Did the Reps. get a cost study on the savings of doing away with the retirment plan? Nope NO FACTS or data just hype to overturn it!!!