I am responding to a letter in the April 29 Brick Bulletin titled "Municipal Budget Cuts Will Have Consequences." Unfortunately, we all must make sacrifices in order to live within our means, and this includes our local government.
I did not rely on publicly subsidized programs to educate or socialize my children. I worked, and I paid for their summer camp, as well as their parochial school education. I resent the feeling of entitlement that others have, when I have worked hard to earn the money to provide for my own children without looking for handouts.
This letter refers specifically to a mother who wants to put her child in the summer camp recreation program three days a week for socialization. Presumably she is a stay-at-home mom; otherwise, her need would be for day care instead of socialization. My question is, if this mother feels her child’s social life is that important, why doesn’t she seek part-time employment while the child is at day camp in order to defray the cost of the program, instead of whining that the fees have increased and she can no longer afford it? Why should a summer activity program be provided at the expense of the taxpayers?
The government must provide its citizens with essential services, nothing more. We are entitled to police protection, trash removal and schooling for kindergarten through grade 12. Our municipal government’s supply of money is limited. The government must make cuts in order to stay within its budget.
Essential services are just that, essential, and must be funded. Anything above and beyond that is extra. It is time to cut the extras, because I, as a taxpayer, have had it with unbridled tax-and-spend fiscal policies. Give me the basics, nothing more, and keep my taxes at a minimum. If people want the extras, that’s fine, but it should be at their own expense, not the taxpayers.
Caroline Visser
Brick