In 1969, my parents bought the Morris County home in which I spent the majority of my childhood. Their biggest decision was whether or not to spend an extra $650 for a basement. They decided against it. After all, in 1969, $650 was a lot of money. Had they thought the decision through, however, they would have realized that the $650 spent on the basement, amortized over their 30-year mortgage, resulted in a whopping $22 a year — less than $2 extra per month added onto their mortgage payment. Thirty-five years later, my parents laugh about this absurd and shortsighted decision, and routinely refer to it as one of the most financially "cockamamie" decisions they have ever made.
Those who opposed the recent school referendum, causing the Board of Education to scale down its proposal by more than 8 million dollars in fear of having the Commissioner of Education impose upon the township the state minimum requirements, are similarly short-sighted and, in my opinion, selfish.
Experience teaches that the brick and mortar construction expense of building larger and better facilities may, in the long run, be less expensive. In five to seven years, when Millstone Township’s children have outgrown facilities that have yet to be constructed, the results of struggling, yet again, with insufficient facilities will surely demonstrate the truth of the old adage "penny wise and pound foolish." My understanding, based upon the news articles I have read and the individuals with whom I have spoken, is that the bulk of the opposition centers on the increase in taxes. Based upon the average value of a Millstone home, the original proposal would have resulted in a tax increase of $560 per year. The new proposal, which eliminates in its entirety the transportation center and puts up for vote several key components of the original proposal, including but not limited to 30,000 square feet of space, results in a tax increase of $440 per year for that same average homeowner.
I certainly hope the opponents of the original proposal are pleased with the results of their actions. They have saved themselves $120 per year — $10 per month. They have cheated our children out of what would have been a state-of-the-art, multi-dimensional and spacious facility for $10 per month. They have caused delays that will, most likely, add an entire year onto the length of construction for $10 per month. They have cost the township thousands of dollars in architectural and other professional fees related to the revision of the original proposal for $10 per month. They have ignored the significant growth of our community and the fact that this growth will only continue exponentially, for $10 per month. They are the quintessential example of "penny wise and pound foolish."
Unlike my parents, five to years from now, Millstone Township will not be laughing about our community’s continuing and expanding needs — needs which could have been met but for the ill-considered consequences and economically backward thinking evidenced by a handful of Millstone residents who chose an extra $10 per month over our children’s educational needs. The township, and the rest of the community, will be looking back on the revised proposal, and what we could have built with the original proposal, and regretting their own shortsightedness which, in the words of my parents, is truly "cockamamie." By then, the cost of making further additions or improvements will pale in comparison to what the township had originally proposed.
My final thought is one of disgust. I am disgusted that the Millstone children, including my own, will lose because a small percentage of the township refuses to depart with an extra $10 per month. I am disgusted because a portion of the community in which I live has responded to our need for improved educational facilities with nothing but a selfish agenda. I am disgusted because this one issue has caused me to re-think my decision four years ago to move into Millstone, rather than Marlboro, Manalapan or Freehold Township.
As with all decisions we make through the course of our lives, this decision will have a rippling effect well into Millstone’s future. Unfortunately, that rippling effect will only create more obstacles for the township, rather than solving those we currently face.
Gary L. Mason
Millstone