By elaine van develde
Staff Writer
TINTON FALLS — Tinton Falls resident Jeffrey Pringle is taking his own advice.
In running for a seat on the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the 34-year-old Democrat and seventh-grade history teacher says he’s just doing what he tells his students to do. "I teach government and I tell the kids, ‘If you don’t like the way things are, you campaign for office to influence change as effectively as possible,’ " he said.
That’s precisely what Pringle is aiming to do. Tired of one party representing the entire county, Pringle says the status quo for governing has become elitist. Too long a tenure in office can make a politician stale, he thinks, hindering progress.
Pringle just doesn’t like the way things are going at the county level ,and he wants to imprint change by becoming one of the only Democrats to occupy a seat on the board in the last decade or so.
Now sitting is the all-GOP team of Director Harry Larrison, Deputy Director Thomas Powers, Amy Handlin, Edward Stominski and Theodore Narozanick.
Incumbents Larrison and Powers’ seats are up for grabs Nov. 5. Pringle and his running mate John P. Szeliga, 50, of 703 North Lake Drive, Belmar, want to occupy those seats to give the voice back to forgotten parts of the county population.
Pringle says if elected, he’ll put his bachelor’s degree in history and education — from Kean University, Union — to good use. He said he’ll make sure that mistakes of the past are not repeated, while educating the public on issues he feels it is not well enough informed about ,but affect people deeply.
Among those issues he feels are skimmed over and slipped by the public eye are fiscal responsibility, open space preservation methods/overdevelopment and education.
Concerning fiscal matters, Pringle thinks the present freeholders create an illusion of savings to constituents while their spending is on the rise consistently.
"It’s out of control," he said. "They’re spending more and more because they’re getting surplus, and instead of giving it back to the people, they’re rolling it over into the next budget and spending it."
Pringle says, for instance, if the county expects to bring in $300 million in anticipated revenue, that figure is put on the revenue line of the budget. But when, for instance, $317 million comes in instead, that extra is hidden rather than doled out to residents in the form of a rebate. It’s rolled back into the budget and spent. He says the effect is cumulative, and estimates that county spending increased by $130 million this way in the past four years.
"In reality, in the last year, the budget went up $18 million in terms of the portion paid by taxpayers," he said. "The state is cutting, the schools are cutting, and the county is spending. They’re trying to fool the taxpayer by saying the county tax rate is going down. It’s not."
Pringle says another myth is that of the ratables chase to free taxpayer burden for overburdened services and schools by attracting commercial development.
"Statistics dictate that for every tax dollar brought in on a ratable, taxpayers spend $1.18, So, we’re at a loss. People don’t understand that no matter what the development, with or without school children added to the system [the biggest tax strain], anyone coming into any town in the county is going to require all municipal services."
Pringle says people can’t forget, either, that where there is an office complex or a store, there are going to be people who move closer to it, and they do put their children into the school systems.
"It’s simple — the more people and development, the more tax strain because services are definitely used by everyone."
Saying he’s definitely for open space and the additional proposed penny-per-$100-of assessed-valuation tax up for county vote this year, Pringle says he doesn’t think the county is accountable enough to its constituents for where and what purpose open space money is spent.
"For instance, according to county figures, 3 percent of the population uses golf courses," Pringle noted. "The 97 percent not using them are funding them through the open space tax. I’m a golfer myself, but what’s fair is fair. Open space should be free and used by, and open to, everyone. The county parks are free; why not the golf courses."
Pringle says the freeholders’ favoring of golf courses serves a twofold purpose: to benefit an elitist portion of their supporters, and to put more money into the county till when the open space tax is supposed to cover such costs.
"The average person can’t even get a tee time on a county course," he added.
The county open space tax is currently 1.5 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation. If the extra cent passes voter approval this year, the tax will generate $16 million a year.
Pringle says there’s nothing wrong with the open space tax, but people should be directly apprised of what it is to be used for because it’s their money. "I ask over and over for a criteria to be set by the freeholders. That criteria should establish specifically what can be purchased and what the money will be used for. Right now, there’s too much leeway for the county to say, ‘It doesn’t fit our criteria.’ "
Traffic, along with development and open space, Pringle says has to be better managed, too. "Somebody needs to tell developers to stop and step up to the plate to divert development elsewhere. It’s out of control. We’re going to become urbanized if development continues to spiral out of control like this."
On traffic generated, he says there has to be a more regional approach when, for instance a county road needs to be improved.
"The only solution seems to be to widen," Pringle said. "Then the public isn’t invited to become involved until a costly study is conducted first. Surrounding towns will be affected, so they need to be included before too much money is wasted on a costly study that will end up having to be reworked. More taxpayer money wasted."
Concerning education, Pringle wants to see what he calls an excellent county system expanded to include more middle-of-the-road students who, he says, too often slip through the cracks while politicians strive to satisfy an elite few.
"It’s just another example of dividing the haves and the have-nots," he said. "There are children, seniors and people of all levels of income. All deserve to be represented."
In addition to being a history teacher at Colts Neck Elementary School, Pringle is a former Board of Education member in Tinton Falls (1999-2002) and Belmar (1990-1991). He is a member of the Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol, a volunteer firefighter in Belmar, where he was raised, and an Eagle Scout.