Fiscal responsibility starts at home with council

By: centraljersey.com
Walking through town and talking to voters reveal some interesting perspectives and concerns on their parts.
Foremost seems to be the rising cost of living in South Brunswick. Every now and then someone says, "I’m going to have to leave South Brunswick when I can’t afford to live here any more."
Taxes continue to rise. Water and sewer bills go up. And school costs escalate due to overdevelopment.
As far as municipal taxes go, the Township Council puts much of the blame on a cut in state funding. But, fiscal responsibility starts at home, and it’s hard to claim "foul" when South Brunswick’s budget and its needs were not even filed when the state was presenting its financial plan for the year. New Jersey’s budget is set in June and towns across the state need to have their "ducks in a row" before then so state officials can make some decisions about state aid.
It is now September, and South Brunswick has just passed its budget, months after the state set its funding priorities. While it might have made little difference, one does have to wonder how state officials feel about giving money to a township that doesn’t quite seem able to figure out its own books on time.
It’s a question worth examining.
And a question definitely worth asking.
Jean E. Dvorak South Brunswick
Ms. Dvorak is an independent candidate for Township Council Instrumental assistance
To the editor:
I wanted to thank the South Brunswick Post for its coverage of the South Brunswick Schools’ Instrument Bank in last week’s paper.
I was busy collecting instruments all weekend because of the article and have already sent some back out to our needy students.
Anyone wishing to make a monetary or instrument donation can e-mail me at [email protected].
Thanks again, South Brunswick Post. You helped a lot of kids.
Judy Walters Kendall Park
Why no 9/11 commemoration?
To the editor:
I was very impressed with the many wonderful programs that occurred all through the country to acknowledge 9/11 and to illustrate as a nation that we have not forgotten what happened to us that day. I was mayor in South Brunswick on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001; it was extraordinary how well we as a community handled the nightmare that was 9/11.
We were directly painfully effected as a community and we also felt the collective sorrow of the nation. Yet though we host a very diverse religious, ethnic and racial population we did not turn on each other, we instead supported one another as a community.
I can only congratulate our community leaders who this past Saturday, during various community activities held a moment of silence to recognize the sacrifices of so many, including our first responders, heroic citizens, and officers, who risked and many who lost their lives to save others. I was informed that a moment of silence was held before the soccer club soccer games and I believe such moments where held privately throughout the town.
I am sorry though that the township municipal government itself did not appear to recognize the day. The mayor and council could have held a ceremony by the fountain, and a publicized moment of silence, this would not have cost much, but would have been invaluable.
Putting this election and politics aside, it is clear something was needed from the municipal government. If they held something it was very poorly advertised, many of us were looking for an opportunity to stand together as a community.
Regardless, hats off to those of us who had the opportunity to recognize the unique moment in our history that was 9/11, a moment when we came together against all those that would harm us, but not against each other.
Debra Johnson Monmouth Junction
Ms. Johnson is an independent candidate for mayor.