John Hart, Hopewell Township
As a member of the Hopewell Township Committee and Hopewell Planning Board for most of the past 20 years, I have seen firsthand how the township spends money.
Kevin Kuchinski, on the other hand, has been on the Township Committee for less than one year.
When Mr. Kuchinski switched party from Republican to a Democrat immediately prior to his run, I can only imagine that he naively believed that the Democrats were the party of fiscal restraint. Unfortunately, he was mistaken. For example, it was the Democrats who were responsible for the unfettered spending of taxpayer’s hard-earned money that resulted in the purchases of multiple grossly overpriced properties and overpayment on equipment.
The Democrat-led committee purchased Pennytown near the peak of the real estate bubble for $6.3 million, millions more than its value. Seven years later, it continues to sit vacant, a millstone around the neck of the taxpayers in the form of debt on which we must continue to pay interest. The Democrat-led committee also purchased two farms which the township was forced to sell at auction, at a total loss of $1.5 million.
Mayor Harvey Lester held 14 budget meetings this year in order to properly analyze each line of the budget and incorporate recommendations from the public. While fastidiously reviewing the budget, Mayor Harvey Lester and Committeeman Todd Brant astutely noted that the Democrat-led committee had been bonding equipment for longer than its life expectancy. Equipment with a life expectancy of a few years was bonded for 20 years. This equipment will be scrapped long before it is paid off. It could have been paid off in the proper period, but once again, because of the Democrats, the taxpayers of Hopewell are left holding the bag in the form of increased interest payments on the debt.
If the Democrats were to regain majority, the costly financial mistakes of the past will once again be repeated in the future, to the detriment of Hopewell Township taxpayers.
I urge the re-election of Harvey Lester to Hopewell Township Committee.
John Hart
Hopewell Township
Kevin Kuchinski, on the other hand, has been on the Township Committee for less than one year.
When Mr. Kuchinski switched party from Republican to a Democrat immediately prior to his run, I can only imagine that he naively believed that the Democrats were the party of fiscal restraint. Unfortunately, he was mistaken. For example, it was the Democrats who were responsible for the unfettered spending of taxpayer’s hard-earned money that resulted in the purchases of multiple grossly overpriced properties and overpayment on equipment.
The Democrat-led committee purchased Pennytown near the peak of the real estate bubble for $6.3 million, millions more than its value. Seven years later, it continues to sit vacant, a millstone around the neck of the taxpayers in the form of debt on which we must continue to pay interest. The Democrat-led committee also purchased two farms which the township was forced to sell at auction, at a total loss of $1.5 million.
Mayor Harvey Lester held 14 budget meetings this year in order to properly analyze each line of the budget and incorporate recommendations from the public. While fastidiously reviewing the budget, Mayor Harvey Lester and Committeeman Todd Brant astutely noted that the Democrat-led committee had been bonding equipment for longer than its life expectancy. Equipment with a life expectancy of a few years was bonded for 20 years. This equipment will be scrapped long before it is paid off. It could have been paid off in the proper period, but once again, because of the Democrats, the taxpayers of Hopewell are left holding the bag in the form of increased interest payments on the debt.
If the Democrats were to regain majority, the costly financial mistakes of the past will once again be repeated in the future, to the detriment of Hopewell Township taxpayers.
I urge the re-election of Harvey Lester to Hopewell Township Committee.
John Hart
Hopewell Township
