Englishtown mayor expects to speak about rec. waivers

BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

ENGLISHTOWN – No decision has been reached by borough officials regarding the payment of economic waivers for Englishtown youngsters who attend Manalapan’s summer recreation program.

Several discussions regarding the issue have been held between Englishtown Mayor Thomas Reynolds and Manalapan Mayor Michelle Roth.

At issue is whether Englishtown will start paying for the cost of its residents who cannot afford to pay the $500 registration fee to attend the Manalapan summer recreation program.

The recreation program has been picking up that cost in the past.

Reynolds said he will attend the April 9 Township Committee meeting in Manalapan to address the governing body in person about the issue.

According to Manalapan officials, of the 80 youths who attended the last summer recreation program on an economic waiver, 17 youngsters were residents of Englishtown.

As previously reported by the News Transcript, Manalapan officials decided last fall that the recreation program would no longer pick up the cost of economic waivers for children from Englishtown who cannot pay the $500 registration fee.

In a story relating that decision, Roth said Englishtown officials were notified in writing about the change in policy. At the time Manalapan officials were waiting to hear back from representatives of Englishtown.

According to Englishtown Councilwoman Lori Cooke, when Roth and Reynolds subsequently met to discuss the issue it was determined that the letter from Manalapan to Englishtown that Roth had previously referred to had never been sent.

Cooke is the Borough Council’s recreation liaison and her assertion about the letter having never been sent to Englishtown was confirmed by Manalapan officials.

According to Roth and Manalapan Township Administrator Tara Lovrich, a miscommunication ended up taking place between Manalapan departments, with the administrator’s office thinking that the recreation department had sent the letter to Englishtown and vice versa.

The end result was that the letter was never sent to Englishtown officials.

"We were very upset by the story. It made us look bad, like we didn’t care if we were freeloading off the taxpayers ofManalapan," Cooke said.

When asked what, if any, decision has been made by borough officials regarding Englishtown picking up the cost of their residents’ waivers, Cooke said, "We haven’t made a decision yet. (Gov. Jon) Corzine took a lot (of municipal aid) out of our budget. After the mayor goes to the Manalapan meeting the matter will be put to rest."

Reynolds confirmed that he will attend the Manalapan meeting on April 9 to discuss "the waivers, the summer recreation program and other issues."

When asked if he planned to take up the matter of the letter that never got sent, Reynolds said, "I don’t know that yet."

When asked to comment on Reynolds’ and Cooke’s remarks, Roth said, "Mayor Reynolds and I (already) had two very productive conversations about this issue."

The matter of the cost of the economic waivers became an issue following an October meeting of the Manalapan Recreation Advisory Board when reducing the deficit of the summer recreation program was discussed.

According to a fiscal summary that was distributed to board members at that meeting, the summer recreation program spent $168,532 on trips and had revenues of $153,442 at the close of the 2007 program.

Roth later said it is only fair to expect Englishtown to contribute something toward the summer recreation program expenses.

"We welcome everyone into our summer program, however, the only waivers we will be continuing to consider will be for Manalapan residents. It’s not fair to Manalapan taxpayers and really is the responsibility of the Englishtown Borough Council to provide payment for Englishtown children who cannot afford to pay for the recreation program," Roth said at the time.