To the editor:
When I read about the $50,000 lease and rent increase the Republican township committee forced on our board of education with the threat of eviction, I thought to myself, whose side is the township committee on?
Shouldn’t the township committee cooperate with the board of education to help the students and their families instead of, in effect, imposing a tax on the board of education? The board of education will either have to pay the $50,000 by cutting back on expenses in order to provide for educational programs or by raising taxes on their parents and the rest of the taxpayers. Isn’t this really just a new tax on the schools levied through the municipal budget? The board of education has had a $0 lease with the township for more than 25 years, since 1991.
I also couldn’t help noticing the news reports about how Republican members of the township committee, Carl Suraci and Gloria McCauley, were using tax dollars to pay for their own personal health insurance to the tune of $45,000 during 2017. At that time,they were the only part-time township employees who the Board approved for this taxpayer-funded personal benefit.
Last year the township committee eliminated our partially-volunteer Hillsborough EMS contract to supposedly save about $300,000. While the jury is still out on how wise a move that really was, now the committee is already looking for more! Meanwhile, they signed a contract with a service provider for APEX, which isn’t even built yet, to provide play time on APEX fields for Hillsborough Recreation teams. The fees associated with these services were never presented to the public when the APEX ordinance was passed, and they will amount to quite a bit more than the township is charging the schools. Therefore, they are also essentially charging the schools to pay a developer! And it appears they didn’t even consider giving the schools some of that play time, even though the schools accommodate Rec for off-season play time and camps every year.
Instead of using tax dollars for personal benefits, the township committee could have used that money to offset the rent increase to the board of education, which, for over a decade, has not ever been necessary. Why did we eliminate our EMS and still end up essentially taxing residents for the schools? How did we contract with APEX using tax dollars and not even tell the public about it?
We need Democratic members on the township committee. They will put the needs of students ahead of their own personal needs and will be transparent with the public. They will not do these money grabs that just increase our taxes and make Hillsborough less and less affordable. Vote Olivia Holmes and Jeff Wright on November 6th.
Carolann Samaniego
Hillsborough