The April 24 edition of the News Transcript quotes Dr. David C. Abbott’s (Marlboro superintendent of schools) reaction to the school budget defeat as follows: "I don’t know how to interpret that, if people were anti-taxes across the board or if they were emotionally responding to the Freehold Regional budget."
Marlboro residents are mentally agile. They separately discerned and evaluated the Freehold Regional and Marlboro K-8 budgets. Their overwhelming defeat of both budgets should not be misconstrued as "…emotionally responding to the Freehold Regional budget."
Couples and parents already burdened by the impact of the 9/11 tragedy on the economy, job loss or job instability rejected another property tax increase. Retired seniors on fixed incomes rejected another property tax increase.
However, it would be folly to breathe a sigh of relief in thinking that taxes will not increase simply because residents voted down the budgets. The schools by law must be funded. All Marlboro residents should contemplate why taxes have rampantly increased over the last few years. There is one overwhelming factor and that has been the level of development in the township.
Every time a developer builds another 80 homes on lots downzoned from their original approved larger lot sizes, the Board of Education is forced to propose higher budgets and open space in Marl-boro dwindles away. This is not the school board’s fault or Dr. Abbott’s fault — they are merely budgeting for the increased student population that our township leaders have permitted, if not encouraged.
Even if senior housing at the Marlboro Airport property is proposed as some type of panacea, do not be fooled. Who do you think will be paying for the sewers, the roads and the increase in civil service employees to protect the new residents and maintain the public spaces?
We need to cast aside party affiliations and vote in the next mayoral and council races for the candidates who emphatically support and provide logical, specific green space action plans.
By reference to green space, I do not mean a golf course, homes, retail and conference center on the Marlboro hospital property. We must be willing to spend on open space to prevent further development that will continue to put exponential pressure on property tax levels while eroding our open space in the town.
Models for prudent township preservation for open space exist. It can be done. Ride through Colts Neck or Wall and you will see sign after sign marking the open space preserved by these towns. Take the time to learn about Colts Neck’s requirements for minimum lot sizes. I am suggesting that it makes sense to put pressure on our current elected officials and ask them to commit to slowing down development in Marlboro.
It would be better to fund a more generous open space assessment now than to continue with the out of control property tax increases we have experienced. Come next election, it will be better to elect officials who will pledge, in their platform, to protect us from continued overdevelopment.
Julia A. Oliver
Marlboro
Voters’ decision on budget was reasoned, not by chance